Mine
by Twiclipsee
Summary: Johnny believes that love and soulmates don't really exist, until he meets someone that will prove him wrong. Not good at summaries :/ lol Rated T for all that good stuff that goes on in Tulsa XD.
1. Chapter 1

Ellie POV

I walked down the hall with my best friend Jill. It was finally time to go home, and we were walking towards our lockers.

"Ellie, what do we have for homework?" Jill asked me and I sighed.

"I already told you about five times," I replied, annoyed.

"Well sorry! Tell me again," she asked. I couldn't help but laugh. I told her the homework, again, as I opened my locker door.

"We have to read two pages of the English and-" I turned to look at her and stopped. He was right behind her walking with his friends. Johnny Cade. Of course, I blushed crazily and looked down.

"What?" Jill asked me. Oh my gosh. Could she be any louder? She turned her head to where I looked and laughed.

"Jill! Stop looking!" I begged her. They walked closer towards us and my stomach flipped a little.

I prayed to God Jill wouldn't call out to them. "Hey, Two-bit!" Jill called and waved. All three of them looked over at us. Including Johnny. I glared at her. "Hey Jill, hows it goin'? Two-bit smiled at her and walked over. They all followed him. Oh God. I turned around and pretended to get books out of my locker. Why am I such a spaz? I bet no other girl gets this nervous. I'm probably the only girl on the planet that acts this stupid in front of guys.

"Oh nothin'," I could hear the smile in Jill's voice as she talked to Two-bit. She knew he kinda liked her. I kept telling her she was crazy for him too but she never listened. I thought they'd make a good couple considering they both have huge mouths and always have something to say.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and tensed. No way. Could it really be? I turned and saw Ponyboy.

"Oh, hey Ponyboy," I said and exhaled, relieved. That was until I saw thatJohnny was right next to him. I couldn't help but stare at him and he looked back at me, a little surprised. Oh gosh, he's gonna think I'm some kind of creep for staring at him. I blushed and looked quickly at Ponyboy.

"Hey. Did you read that book I told you about?" he asked me. Ponyboy and I were a lot alike. We both read books and watched movies way more than we should. I also noticed that he daydreams in class a lot, just like me. But not in English. There's were I first started talking to him.

"Oh, yeah I did. It's really good so far," I smiled, barely getting the words out. How could I even think when _he_ was right there?

"Cool, you know, the movie is coming out soon. Maybe we could see it," He suggested. I smiled.

"Yeah that would be fun," I really was looking forward to seeing it. I looked at Johnny again and felt my face heat up completely. Thankfully, that's when they began following Two-bit outside.

As soon as they were gone, I groaned and stuck my head in my locker. Jill laughed at me.

"How could you do that to me?" I said into my locker. "That was humiliating! He probably thinks I'm some kind of creep for staring at him! Not to mention that my face looked like a tomato by the time they left!" I groaned again. I came out of the locker and glared at her.

"Ugh, fine. I'm sorry, okay?" she said.

"You know that I get way too nervous!" I reminded her.

"I don't know why! It's not like he does anything!" I narrowed my eyes at her. "You should talk to him. You should do what I do when I like a guy." I laughed just thinking about it.

"Come on. You know I'll never be able to do what you do," I told her.

"Yeah, I guess not, but you gotta do something," she looked at me and smiled. "Come on, we'll go to your house and think of what we could do." She took my arm.

"You know I didn't invite you over my house right?" I said and laughed.

"Well, too bad." She said as we walked out.

Johnny POV

Me, Two-bit, and Ponyboy walked out of the school towards the Curtis' house. "Ya know, I think she likes me," Two-bit said and smiled. I rolled my eyes. He was talking about Jill again. Ponyboy laughed beside me. "No really, I'm serious," Two-bit said.

"I never said she didn't, Two-bit," Pony stated. "What about Kathy?" Ponyboy asked.

"We broke up a while ago," Two-bit said and changed the subject. "Ya know Ponyboy," Two-bit stopped and looked at him. "I think Jill's friend Elizabeth has a thing for you," Two-bit said and smiled. I tensed and listened closely, waiting for Ponyboy to reply.

"Nah, me and Elizabeth are just friends," Ponyboy looked up at Two-bit.

"Well, I think she digs you. I mean didn't you see her blushing?" Of course. I kicked at a rock on the sidewalk. She was blushin' at Pony not me. It was stupid to think she was looking at me anyway. I mean, she even agreed to go to a movie with him already. But I could have sworn she was lookin' at me! I shook my head.

Two-bit blabbered on about other things, but I tuned him out. We got to the Curtis' and Two-bit ran in to meet Steve and Soda. Me and Pony sat on the steps for a while. Finally, I looked at him.

"Uh, hey Pony?" I asked him.

"Yeah?" he said and looked at me.

"Do you uh, do you like Elizabeth?" I tried to ask him as casually as I could. Pony looked at me in surprise.

"Well, I like her as a friend, but that's it," he looked at me suspiciously. "Why?" he asked. I looked down.

"Oh, uh, no reason." I tried to change the subject. "Lets go inside." He looked at me again.

"Alright," he said and walked inside.

I know I should have said something to Pony, but I still didn't really know what I was getting at. I didn't know Elizabeth that well. I knew she was in a few of my classes. I knew that I got a weird feeling when I saw her. I knew that she was real pretty, and smart too. But what I didn't know was what that was supposed to mean.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N : Thanks for the reviews ! ^.^ Johnny's part in this chapter is kinda small :/ but oo well. R&R :D

EPOV

Me and Jill walked into my house. My parents were still at work and my brother John should be getting dropped off by the bus soon. Me and Jill didn't have much time before he got home.

"Please tell me you have popcorn," Jill said as she made her way to the kitchen.

"When don't I have popcorn?" I asked her laughing. I walked behind her as she looked into the pantry.

"Huh. True," she said and found the box.

After making the popcorn we went into my room. Jill jumped onto the bed, just saving the popcorn from spilling all over the place.

"I hope you know that I'm so not helping you clean if you spill it everywhere," I reminded her. She knew I hated it when she made a huge mess of my room, which she happened to do a lot.

"I know, I know," she said rolling her eyes at me. " Alright. So. About Johnny," she started and I smiled.

"Johnny. He's just so cute and, I don't know. I always get so nervous. I just try to avoid humiliating myself in front of him," I told her just as I did a million times. She's heard this story before so I don't know what she's getting at. Although I was confused, I couldn't complain. Jill knew I loved talking about Johnny.

"Yeah, I know. The thing is, you have to step up and make a move if you want this to go anywhere," she tried convincingly.

"Oh, no, no, no. I am not making the first move. He doesn't even notice me. How embarrassing will that be when I try and talk to him, let alone making a move on him!" I told her incredulously. Did she seriously think I was gonna do that?

"See! That's the problem! You need to loosen up, she said and sat up on my bed.

"Believe me, I know. I've tried. Really I have, but it just doesn't work," I said miserably. It was true. Every time I tried to stop being nervous, I just ended up being even more awkward.

"Hm. Well, I bet there's one thing you haven't tried," Jill said raising her eyebrows. My eyes widened. She could not be serious.

"Please tell me you're joking. Not only will your mom kill you, but my parents aren't gonna be too forgiving either!" She was suggesting alcohol. Beer. Jill figured it would loosen me up and make me less nervous. I don't know why she even said it. She and I both knew I was almost as much of a goody-two-shoes as people thought I was. Plus my parents would murder me if they found out.

"Come on! You have to admit it's a good idea," she tried reasoning. She had a point. Maybe it would loosen me up a bit. But then again it was a huge risk. "It's not like I'm suggesting you get completely drunk! All I'm saying is that maybe a drink or two will work."

"Well, I don't know. How are we gonna get this past our parents? How are we even gonna get the stuff?" This was crazy.

"We can go to one of the places that we know they hang out at, get Two-bit or someone to by us a beer, and-" she got cut off by the slamming of the front door. My eight-year-old brother John was home. "and we get you to drink a few-"

"Shut up! John just got home! He might hear you!" I hissed at her. My gosh was she that oblivious? I shook my head and opened my bedroom door.

"Hey, Ellie," John said as he put down his backpack. He looked just like me, but in a boy version. We both had dark brown hair, and brown eyes. I smiled at him.

"Hey, John. How was school," I asked him and got him a snack. He always had some kind of snack when he got home.

"Fine. Is...someone here?" he asked suspiciously.

"John!" Jill yelled as she came into the kitchen. She hugged him and he rolled his eyes. He hated it when my friends fawned over him. Almost all my friends thought he was adorable and it really annoyed him. It was pretty funny to watch.

"Hi, Jill," he took his snack and turned on the t.v.

"John, we're gonna be in my room alright?" I said to him as me and Jill were walking back to my room.

"Yeah," he said with his eyes on the t.v.

We got back into my room and finished up our plan. Since it was a Friday, we figured we might as well just do it tonight. I was gonna sleep over Jill's house that night so my parents would never find out about what we were doing.

"Jill, we both know your mom is gonna notice something's wrong with me if I come over drunk!" I said.

"First of all, I'm not gonna let you get drunk. Second of all, she'll never even suspect that you would drink, so I wouldn't worry about it," she explained. Oh gosh. What have I gotten myself into?

JPOV

I sat on the Curtis' couch with Ponyboy watching t.v. Darry just got home and Steve and Soda were about to go out on their date. Steve was trying to set Soda up with another one of Evie's friends. Soda never did end up liking any of them. Maybe it was because he still hadn't gotten over Sandy.

"See ya guys," Soda said to us as he walked out with Steve.

"Good luck buddy!" Two-bit said to him with a wink. Soda just rolled his eyes and smiled. They walked out and we focused on the t.v. again.

"Hey, guys," Two-bit said and looked and me and Ponyboy. "You guys wanna go out and have some fun? It's Friday night!" Two-bit said enthusiastically.

I looked at Ponyboy. "I'll go if you go," I said. I didn't feel like hanging around Two-bit alone. He would just leave me there while he made a pass at every blonde girl in sight.

"Yeah, I'll go. I'll be able to stay out later cause it ain't a school night," Ponyboy said and got his jacket.

"Woo! Let's go have some fun!" Two-bit yelled. I laughed as he jumped around the living room. Ponyboy called to Darry as we were leaving. Darry never came with us cause he was either too tired, or had to get to his second job.

We walked towards Two-bit's house to get his car. It wasn't exactly nice, but it was faster than walking. We planned on going to some place I couldn't remember the name of. It probably sold alcohol considering Two-bit kept talking about gettin' a beer. Me and Ponyboy probably wouldn't drink. Darry flipped the last time Ponyboy drank. I usually don't drink cause I just don't feel like it. Also cause I knew that nothing good ever comes out of it. Just take my dad for example.

I took a cigarette out of my jean jacket as we got to Two-bit's house. He went in real quick to say hi to his mom and then came out to start the car.

"Alright guys. Let's go!" Two-bit yelled as we pulled out of his driveway. I looked out the window silently. After a while, we pulled up to the place and got out. Tons of people where there. I think I might have even seen a Soc.

"Two-bit I'm not getting' into any fights tonight ya got it?" I said panicking. There was no way I was doing that.

"Hey, Johnnycakes calm down. Those guys aren't Socs. They're more like...middle, I guess?" He reassured me.

Whatever, I thought as we walked passed them. Now that I looked closer, I guess they didn't look like full-fledged Socs. Me and Ponyboy walked in behind Two-bit. The place was pretty crowded. We searched for a table and after a while we finally found one right by the bar. Of course, getting that table was like hitting the jack-pot for Two-bit. I sat down and looked around. Then, I glanced towards the door and saw the last person I would have expected to see.


	3. Chapter 3

EPOV

I can't believe I was seriously going through with this, I thought as we walked up the the place. Me and Jill had went to her house to get ready before going out. Of course, she tried to get me to wear something completely insane, but I refused. I was not that kind of girl. Besides, I thought my outfit looked fine. I was wearing a nice blouse, my favorite skirt, and a matching sweater. She did get me to wear small heels though.

I was literally shaking. What if he was in there? What if he wasn't? Would this all be for nothing? What if-

"Come on!" Jill called to me, interrupting my thoughts. I followed her up the stairs and into the place.

There were so many people there that I almost got lost. Jill led the way straight to the bar. I don't know if I'm ready, I thought and stopped in my tracks. She walked right up and then turned around, looking for me. She spotted me and waved me over. I sighed and walked over to her.

"Alright, so-" Jill started but was cut off my the sound of someone whistling right behind us. I turned around and spotted Two-bit. He was looking at Jill and I couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face.

"Fancy seeing you guys here! Lookin' good, Jill," he said and winked. Jill rolled her eyes and smiled. She could say it annoyed her all she wanted, but I knew she was loving the attention.

"Hey Two-bit. You here alone?" Jill questioned him.

"Of course not. I brought Ponyboy and Johnny along for the night!" he said with a wide smile on his face. He moved out of the way to reveal Pony and Johnny sitting at the table behind him. My stomach dropped. Johnny looked up at me and then looked away. Ponyboy waved at me and I smiled. Keep on a calm face, I told myself. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"So, can I buy you two some beers?" Two-bit offered. I looked over at Jill and she gave me a slight nod. Apparently the plan was going off without a hitch.

"Why not," Jill said and smiled at him. Two-bit nodded and looked at me.

"You too?" he said uncertainly.

"Sure," I said as confidently as I could. He smirked and raised his eyebrows at me.

"Really? Huh. Well, alright," he said and ordered them.

I looked nervously back at Jill. Were we seriously doing this? She smiled at me reassuringly. Two-bit handed us the beers when the bartender wasn't looking and led us to the table. There were two chairs left. One next to Ponyboy, and one next to Johnny. I quickly took the one next to Ponyboy. There was no way I was "loosened up" enough to sit by Johnny without being insanely nervous.

"Hey," I said as I sat down by Ponyboy. I looked over at Jill. She took the seat by Johnny. Two-bit pulled up another chair for himself, right in between me and Jill.

"Hi," Ponyboy said and smiled. I looked up at Johnny and smiled. He looked straight back at me and gave a small smile. Was he blushing? No . . .it was probably just wishful thinking on my part. I looked down at my beer. I hadn't taken a drink yet and was kinda scared to.

"So what brings you two here?" Two-bit inquired as he took a swig of his drink.

"It's Friday night! We're lookin' to have a good time like everyone else," Jill said with a smile.

She took hold of her drink and took a sip. She acted like it was nothing new. Huh. Well, maybe it was that easy. I looked down at my drink again and picked it up. I took a sip and made a face. Then, of course, I started coughing. I tried to be quiet and after a while I finally stopped. Please, please let no one notice. I looked up and everyone at the table was looking at me.

"Hey, you okay?" Two-bit asked looking at me oddly. What was I supposed to say? I'm such a little goody-goody that I don't drink? That would make me look like such a loser!

"Oh, it's her allergies!" Jill ,thankfully, stepped in. I nodded quickly.

"Yeah. They get pretty bad sometimes. But I'm fine now," I said with a smile. Two-bit nodded and it looked like they all bought it.

I took another sip of the beer hoping I wouldn't cough again. This time I held it down. It didn't taste that bad once you got used to it. But it didn't taste that good either. I took a few sips of the beer again, expecting to feel different. Nothing. Alright, I guess that means I should drink some more then. I drank more and still didn't feel anything. Annoyed, I put the beer down and listened to what they were saying.

Jill and Two-bit talked most of the time and once in a while me or Ponyboy would also chime in. For the most part I just kept drinking the beer, waiting to feel something. Suddenly, I looked down and realized I'd finished the drink.

"I'll get you guys another," Two-bit said and got up to get more beer for me and Jill.

"So, Ponyboy," Jill said and looked over at him. "You like movies right?"

"Yeah. A lot," Ponyboy said blushing. I smiled. I knew he was really into movies. We always talked about books and movies we like in English class. He also told me that he loved going alone because he could really feel what the characters were feeling.

"We should all go sometime," Jill said looking around the table. I knew what she was getting at. She was trying to get Johnny to come to the movies with us.

"Here ya go," Two-bit said and set the beers down in front of me and Jill. "What are ya'll talking about?"

"I said we should all go to the movies sometime," Jill said to Two-bit with a smile.

"Yeah, that would be fun," Two-bit said with his eyes on Jill. I couldn't imagine what he had in mind. He probably only thought of being next to Jill in the drive in, not actually watching the movie. I looked down at my new drink and took two big gulps. I think I was finally starting to feel a bit looser.

"Johnny, you'll come to the movies right?" I spoke up, and surprisingly wasn't a bit nervous. I felt bubbly, and a bit dizzy. He looked up at me and frowned a little.

"I don't know," he said quietly.

"Why not?" I asked, disappointed.

"You and Ponyboy should go alone, or just pair up with Jill and Two-bit. I know you were planning on going so you don't have to feel bad and invite me," he said in an angry tone. What was he talking about? Me and Ponyboy?

"What? No, Johnny-" I said but he cut me off.

"I gotta go," he said. He quickly got up and walked out.

I felt like everything was in slow motion. I was kinda dizzy, but I got up anyway. Both Two-bit and Ponyboy looked confused about Johnny's outburst and the fact that I was going after him. I tried to walk out as fast as I could without falling or stumbling, which was surprisingly hard. I walked out and saw Johnny by the sidewalk.

"Johnny!" I called out to him. My mind was pretty fuzzy by then.

He turned around and frowned at me. I stumbled over towards him and almost fell. Just as I was about to hit the ground, he caught my shoulder.

"Woah. Are you okay?" He asked me looking surprised.

"Y-yeah. I just came out here to find out why you got upset," I managed to get out as I got back on my feet.

"Look, I know you and Ponyboy wanted to go to the movies together. I was just saying that you didn't have to invite me cause you felt like you had to or somethin'," he said quietly, not looking at me.

"No. Johnny, me and Ponyboy-" I said but stopped. Suddenly, I felt really nauseous. I bent over the curb and grabbed my stomach. Johnny looked over at me and his eyes widened.

"Elizabeth? What's the matter?" he said sounding slightly panicked.

"I don't feel so good," I said slurring a bit. My stomach twisted and I moved as far away from Johnny as I could. To top off the wonderful night, I threw up.

JPOV

"Fancy seeing you guys here! Lookin' good, Jill," Two-bit said to Jill and Elizabeth. He was standing in front of the table talking to the girls by the bar.

What are they doing here? I thought as they agreed to Two-bit buying them beers. Elizabeth drinks? I never expected that. I looked at her from behind Two-bit. She looked real pretty tonight. She didn't look like those other girls that wore tons of make-up and tight clothes. She wore nice, pretty stuff and only a little bit of make-up. She wasn't a Soc, but she wasn't a Greaser. She was kinda like middle class.

"Of course not. I brought Ponyboy and Johnny along for the night!" I heard Two-bit say as he moved out from the front of the table. I looked up at Elizabeth and she was looking at me. I looked down after a while, embarrassed. She probably thought it was weird that I was staring at her. Ponyboy waved at them and they got their beers.

There were only two chairs left. One next to me, and the other next to Ponyboy. Part of me hoped that Elizabeth would sit in the chair by me, but the other part of me was too nervous. Of course, she chose the chair next to Ponyboy. I had to admit that I was jealous. She smiled at him and said hi. Then, she looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back at her and tried to keep from blushing like an idiot. I looked away quickly.

Two-bit said something to Jill, but I wasn't paying attention. I was looking at Elizabeth from the corner of my eye. She took a sip of her beer and started coughing. Everyone turned to look at her and she looked really embarrassed when she finally stopped. Was this her first time drinking?

"Hey, you okay?" Two-bit asked her.

"Oh, it's her allergies!" Jill exclaimed.

"Yeah. They get pretty bad sometimes. But I'm fine now," Elizabeth chimed in. I didn't really believe that it was allergies, but the other guys seemed to believe it. I watched her as she took more sips from her cup.

I didn't talk much of the time, but I never do anyway. It was pretty much just Jill and Two-bit. I looked at Elizabeth again and noticed that she was drinking a lot of her beer. It wasn't what I expected her to do.

"I'll get you guys another," Two-bit said and got up to get more beer for the girls.

"So, Ponyboy," Jill said and looked over at him. "You like movies right?"

"Yeah. A lot," Ponyboy said blushing. He didn't like to talk about it that much to other people.

I noticed that Elizabeth looked over at him and was smiling. Oh. This was probably about that movie date they planned. I frowned and looked away.

"Here ya go. What are ya'll talking about?" Two-bit said as he put the beers down.

"I said we should all go to the movies sometime," Jill said to Two-bit with a smile.

"Yeah, that would be fun," Two-bit said and looked at Jill. They were planning some kind of double-date right in front of me!

"Johnny, you'll come to the movies right?" Elizabeth said and looked at me. She looked like she was getting a little drunk.

"I don't know," I said quietly. Why would she ask me to come on her date with Ponyboy?

"Why not?" she asked me.

"You and Ponyboy should go alone, or just pair up with Jill and Two-bit. I know you were planning on going so you don't have to feel bad and invite me," I said, getting angry.

"What? No, Johnny-" she said but I cut her off.

"I gotta go," I said. I got up and walked out without looking back.

I didn't need this. I obviously wasn't invited to their movie date, so why would I wanna stick around here either? I got to the sidewalk when I heard her yell my name. I turned around and looked at her. It wasn't fair that I liked her so much, and she liked Ponyboy. Life isn't fair, I thought bitterly.

She stumbled towards me and almost fell on her face. I grabbed her arm just in time. She was really drunk wasn't she?

"Woah. Are you okay?" I asked her as she got back on her feet. She looked like she was sick.

"Y-yeah. I just came out here to find out why you got upset," She said said slurring slightly.

"Look, I know you and Ponyboy wanted to go to the movies together. I was just saying that you didn't have to invite me cause you felt like you had to or somethin'," I said quietly, looking away from her. She didn't need to see that I was upset. I knew she didn't even notice me let alone feel the same way.

"No. Johnny, me and Ponyboy-" she said but stopped. I looked over at her and she was hunched over the curb.

"Elizabeth? What's the matter?" I said, getting scared.

"I don't feel so good," she said and moved away from me. Oh, no. She's gonna be sick. I looked away as she threw up. I didn't think she'd get that sick, but she was drinking pretty fast. It probably really was the first time she drank.

I wanted to help her, but I wasn't sure what to do. I walked over by her and put my arm on her back.

"Hey. You alright?" I asked her quietly. She looked up and me sadly.

"No. This night was supposed to be great. Instead, I made an idiot of myself," she said and frowned.

"I don't think you're an idiot. You got a little drunk, so what? It happens," I said and sat down on the curb. She sat down next to me, still looking upset.

"That's not it," she said and looked into my eyes. I sat there staring back at her, not sure what to say. She sighed and put her head on my shoulder. I completely froze, not expecting her to do that.

"Johnny, I wanna go home," she said slurring. That was a good idea. I felt nervous that she would throw up again. I knew what it was like the first time you got drunk. It didn't sit well with me either. I was throwin' up for hours.

"Here," I said trying to get up. "Uh. H-hold onto me," I said nervously. She took my arm and kept her head on my shoulder. My stomach felt weird as I looked over at her.

I walked her back into the bar and spotted Jill at our table. I gestured over to her and her jaw dropped when she saw Elizabeth. I waited as she walked over.

"Oh gosh. Ellie," she said and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "What happened?" She asked me.

"She threw up. Said she wanted to go home, so I um, helped her up," I said blushing. Elizabeth looked up at me and tightened her hold on my arm. My stomach dropped. Jill looked at me and Elizabeth and smiled like she knew some kind of secret. Boy, was I confused.

"Hey, Jill," Elizabeth said with her eyes half-closed.

"Come on, I have to get you to my house. Let's go," Jill said as she took Elizabeth out of my arms. "Thanks, Johnny."

"It was nothing. She'll be fine, right?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, she'll be mortified, but she'll be fine," Jill said and smiled again. "Just, tell Two-bit I'll see him soon," she said blushing. She walked out and I watched her and Elizabeth leave.

I walked back to our table, confused. "Uh, Jill said she'll see ya soon, Two-bit," I said and sat down in my chair. I looked up at them and they looked like I felt.

"What happened to Elizabeth? Is she alright?" Ponyboy asked.

"Yeah," I started. "She threw up and I helped her," I said blushing a little.

"Oh. I knew I shouldn't given her those beers. Ah well," Two-bit said and took a sip of his own drink.

"Uh, Johnny? Why'd y-" Ponyboy started. I knew he was gonna ask me about why I got up in the first place. I was still a little jealous and I didn't feel like talking about it. I just wanted to remember how Elizabeth held onto my arm and looked into my eyes.

"Can we leave now?" I said cutting Ponyboy off. He gave me a weird look.

"Um, alright," Pony said and looked up at Two-bit.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll drive ya guys," Two-bit said and finished his beer.

The ride back to the Curtis' was quiet. I knew Ponyboy wanted to know what was going on, but I still didn't wanna talk about it. We pulled up the house and me and Pony got out. We said bye to Two-bit and watched him drive away.

"Johnny, ya wanna just stay here tonight?" Ponyboy asked me gesturing towards his house.

"Uh, nah man, I'm alright. It's not too cold out so I'll just go to the lot," I told him, avoiding his eyes.

"Alright. But Johnny, if you need to come over, even just to talk or whatever, you know you're welcome," he said. I felt bad again, about not tellin' him. I mean, he was my best friend! I should want to tell him. But I had a feeling he liked her more than he was letting on, and I already had a pretty good idea of what Elizabeth thought of him. I'll just tell him tomorrow or somethin', I thought.

"Yeah," I said frowning. "I know."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N : Sorry for taking long -_- I was crazy busy with school stuff :/ Also, Dally acts a little different (like softer and stuff) when he's giving Johnny advice, because he's a little buzzed XD and just cause he wants to help Johnny :3 R&R !

EPOV

I woke up and opened my eyes. I closed them tightly when I suddenly noticed the sunshine practically burning my eyes. I really didn't feel good. I had a slight headache and my stomach felt a bit queasy. I looked around me and realized I was in Jill's room. Huh. Wha- Oh. Oh no. No,no, no, no! I couldn't remember what happened last night! Oh, God. I probably made a fool of myself. I groaned loudly and threw my head back down on the pillow. My life was over.

"Good morning!" Jill exclaimed as she busted in. I looked up at her and frowned. She always woke up early and got stuff done. Not me. I love sleeping and it would take a lot for me to give it up.

"Please, please tell me I didn't make fool of myself," I said to her. Maybe she'll tell me that everything was fine. That we left early and I barely even drank. That Johnny never saw me drunk, or throwing up. Yeah, right.

"Calm down. Just come out and eat something first," she tried to persuade me. I glared at her. This was serious. I needed to know now!

"Fine. Just follow me and I'll start talking," she said rolling her eyes at me. I got up and followed her into the kitchen. It smelt so good that it almost made waking up worth it.

I sat down at the table and ate some of my food. Once I considered I had eaten enough to please Jill, I got down to business.

"Alright. Explain," I said to her.

"Okay, so," she began "we got the beers from Two-bit, you got drunk, Johnny got mad, you threw up, and we went home," she said quickly, not looking at me.

"What!" I threw up! Right in front of everyone? What was Johnny mad about? Was he mad he had to spend his night with some loser who can't even hold down two beers? Oh, gosh. This was a disaster.

"Alright, maybe that sounded worse than it really was," she mumbled.

"Oh, really? Cause it sounds pretty bad to me right now!" I said unhappily.

"Well, Johnny was looking at you a lot that night, so that's good right?" she tried cheering me up. But, of course, it only made things worse.

"He was probably looking at me and wondering what was my problem!" I was mortified. I knew this was a bad idea. I should have never gone threw with it.

"Johnny was the one that carried you in. You guys where outside alone when you threw up. It was really sweet how he helped you," she told me.

Oh, God. I threw up when I was alone with Johnny! And he had to carry me back to the place! He probably thought I was some drunk, weirdo.

"You do realize everything your saying isn't helping right?" I said, annoyed.

"Yeah. I guess not," She muttered, frowning. "Well I don't think this will upset you," she started and looked at me.

"Okay. Gone on," I urged her. I needed some good news. There had to be something good about last night.

"Well, we were all talking about going to the movies, and I guess Johnny thought you wanted to just go with Ponyboy. He said you didn't have to invite him cause you felt bad. That's why he got mad and ran out," she explained to me. Well, it didn't upset me, but it wasn't the good news I was hoping for.

"He was probably jealous," Jill said nodding.

"Wait. He thinks I like Ponyboy?" I said confused. I doubted Johnny was jealous, though. Why would he have a reason to be? I doubted he felt the same way. Even if he did, he probably doesn't anymore considering what happened last night.

"Yeah. Remember when you said you'd go to the movies with him?" she asked me. I vaguely remembered what she was referring to. My mind was too muddled to give it any actual thought though.

"Jill, my mom wanted me home before twelve. What time is it," I asked leaning my head against the chair I was siting in. She looked up at the clock.

"It's ten," she informed me and began bringing the plates to the sink. At least one thing worked out. I'd be home in time. It was pretty sad that that was my only accomplishment, considering how "perfect" last night was supposed to be. Yeah, sure. Just perfect.

JPOV

I woke up in the lot. It was almost Spring, so it wasn't too cold. I sat up and stretched. I didn't really feel like getting up yet so I leaned against a nearby tree and sat in the grass. I sighed, thinking about last night. It wasn't how I would have wanted it, but it was better than I expected. I couldn't help thinking about how I felt holding her.

I knew she probably liked Ponyboy, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't help hoping that she liked me. I was still pretty confused about what happened. Maybe I'll figure it out at school. Elizabeth is in my Science class, so I'll be able to see her. I wonder what school will be like. Will she remember looking into my eyes? Will she remember me helping her? My eyes widened slightly. It suddenly dawned on me that she wouldn't. She drank too fast and threw up! She was probably hurting a little right now. It'll be like it never happened. My happy mood left almost as fast as it came. I was right back where I started.

I can't do this alone. I need some advice. I need some answers. Well, I sure couldn't go to Pony about it. I definitely can't go to Two-bit. He would either think I was joking, or just tease me. I'd ask Soda, but then Pony will be there jumpin' down my throat and asking me more questions about last night. Then I realized that I only had one option. Dally.

I wasn't completely sure that he was the right person to talk to, but he was my only choice. It wasn't that we weren't close or I didn't trust him though. It was just that I didn't even think he cared that much about anyone. Well, except me, maybe. I knew he loved me, but that was different. I don't think he actually cared about the girls he was with. I don't even think he really cared that much about Sylvia. It didn't matter though. He was who I was going to.

I got up and walked out of the lot. My first thought was that he was at Buck's, but I didn't wanna go there. Maybe I'll get lucky and just find him walking around. I walked towards the Dingo, but he wasn't there. Then, I walked near the Curtis house, but he wasn't there either. I went and checked out a few other places but I never saw him. Sighing, I walked back towards the lot. As I got closer, I noticed someone was already there. And of course, it was Dally. I walked all over looking for him and he was here the whole time! Ah well, at least I found him.

"Hey! Johnnycakes," Dally said to me as I walked towards him. He had a beer in his hand but I didn't think he was too drunk.

"Hey, Dallas," I said as I sat down next to him. I looked up at him as he took another sip of his beer. Would he think was getting' soft if I asked him? Would he laugh at me?

"Heard you met a few girls last night," he said smiling at me. Two-bit probably told him the whole story already.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Two-bit said this girl Jill is crazy about him. I don't believe him thought," he said laughing.

"Yup," I said. "Um, Dally?" I asked, looking down.

"Yeah?" he replied. I didn't look up at him. I just kept my eyes on the ground.

"What's love?" I asked him in a small voice. I looked up at him and he had a confused expression on his face.

"I mean, I know it's when you care a lot about someone; when you like someone. But, how do you know? What's it like?" I mumbled.

"Well. Honestly, I don't know a lot about it. I know I used to love my parents. I don't really remember if I loved a girl. And I know I care a lot about you. What I do know, is that its a nice feeling. It's nice until it ends, and you feel like shit. But I guess, it's like, when you see them, you're happier. You wanna talk to them. You care about what happens to them. It feels like, you wanna be by them," Dally rambled on. I looked up at him, trying to understand.

"I mean, I know I'm not that good at putting it into words, but that's kinda what it's like," he mumbled taking a swig of his beer.

"No, I get what your saying," I said nodding at him. I kinda understood what he meant.

"Why do you ask?" he said.

"Oh. Uh, no reason," I said trying to appear casual. I felt my face heat up a little, giving myself away.

"You got your eye on someone, Johnny?" Dally said looking at me with a smirk.

"No. Well, I don't know. I guess," I said smiling.

"Well, I knew it had to happen sometime," he said chuckling. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"So. Who is she?" he asked.

"You probably don't know her, but her names Elizabeth," I told him. I looked up at him to see his reaction. He just looked confused again.

"Isn't that one of the girls you were with last night?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Isn't that Pony's girl?" he asked, still confused.

"No!" I exclaimed, angry. I sighed and started again. "She ain't Pony's girl. She just, might like him," I said, quietly. I should have known he knew about her. He already knew the story cause Two-bit told him.

"Alright. Well, this is a problem," he said quietly. Boy, was he right.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry it took so long! I had so much stuff at school to do. But hereee it is! lol Comment !

EPOV

I spent the rest of my weekend at home. Mostly I finished homework and helped my mom with some chores. I also tried not to think about going back to school. I pushed it out of my mind every time I began thinking of it. I didn't wanna go back and see Johnny. It was too embarrassing. The only thing I could do was enjoy my last hours of safety at home.

I woke up on Monday with a sick feeling in my stomach. Unfortunately, it wasn't bad enough to stay home. I groaned as I went through my usual morning routine. I went slowly, dreading the minute I would pull up to the school. I realized that going slower would only make me late, so I hurried up. I ate breakfast quickly and double checked my reflection in the mirror. I looked fine, but I felt the opposite of that. I followed my mom and my brother out to the car and got in quietly.

"You okay, honey?" my mom asked looking over at me. I looked up at her, trying to hide how I really felt.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" I asked her and looked down at my lap. I hope she couldn't tell how sick I felt.

"You look a little anxious, that's all. Whatever it is I'm sure it'll be fine," she tried reassuring me and smiled. I smiled back at her, thankful for her advice. Even though she had no idea what was going on, I was happy that she was trying to help.

We pulled up to the high school and I waved goodbye to my mom and John. I took a deep breath as I walked up the steps to the front door. Maybe I'd be lucky and I'd successfully avoid Johnny for the whole day. As stupid as my wish was, I tried to believe it.

I was off to a pretty good start until I began walking to second period. I was a little late, so I walked quicker down the hallway. I turned the corner, and I wasn't paying attention. Stupid me, I ran right into someone. I didn't look at them as all my books fell to the floor. I groaned quietly even though I knew it was my own fault for not paying attention.

"I'm sorry, I should have been watching were I was going," I apologized. I reached my hand out to grab one of my books when my hand brushed against the others'. I looked up into the persons eyes. They were so dark, they looked black.

"Johnny," I said, my eyes widening. I completely forgot about my books on the floor and watched in shock as he picked them all up for me.

"Hey. Here, sorry I ran into you," he said quietly, handing me my books. He was the sweetest thing, I thought smiling. And I probably looked like a creep. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts and took my books from him.

"No, really it was my fault. But, thanks," I said smiling. I was trying not to look like an idiot. It didn't matter though cause I felt like one anyway.

"Your welcome," he said looking right into my eyes. I swear my legs wobbled a little.

"I-I gotta go," I mumbled. Before I could make an even bigger fool of myself, I walked away. I walked all the way to my Math class without looking back. Alright that was a lie, I looked back a few times.

Two-bit POV

I sauntered down the halls, bored out of my mind. I couldn't remember which class I had next, so I just picked a few random books out of my locker. After I got them out I spotted Jill across the hall. I walked over to her quickly, without her noticing. Smiling, I wrapped my arm around her waist and struggled not to crack up when she jumped.

"Hey, Jill. How's it goin' babe?" I said smoothly.

"Get lost, Two-bit," Jill said. I didn't take her seriously cause she was blushing and she still looked a little surprised. I raised my eyebrow at her and she slipped out from under my arm.

"You know you want me!" I called after her when she walked away. She looked back at me, smirking and waved goodbye. Yeah. She definitely wants me.

I turned around and headed down another hallway. I walked down just in time to see Jill's friend Ellie run right into Johnnycakes. He picked up her books and she just about ran outta there. What the hell?

"Hey, Johnny," I called over to him. He looked up at me with wide eyes. He was blushing like crazy. What was that all about?

"Oh. Uh, hey Two-bit," he stuttered and looked down at the floor.

"Was that Jill's friend Ellie?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, why?" Johnny said back to me. Was that some defense I heard? What did he have to be defensive about? All I wanted to know was why he was getting so worked up over nothin'.

"Just askin'," I said putting my hands up in mock surrender. I smiled at him as he blushed a little more. Man, I probably don't even wanna know what's goin' on.

EPOV

I completely forgot that Johnny had more than a few classes with me. Well, there goes my plan to avoid him. I tried hard not to look at the door whenever he walked into one of my classes. I thought I was doing pretty good until I looked up and our eyes met just as he was walking past my desk. He probably noticed me staring at him.

I was immensely relieved when the bell finally rang for lunch. Not only did I want to see my friends, but I was starving. I got my lunch quickly, and walked into the cafeteria. I spotted Jill with two of our other friends, Stella and Anne, at a table.

"Hey guys," I said quietly and sat down next to Jill.

"Just look at him. He's adorable," Stella said dreamily. I didn't even have to look to know who she was talking about. Sodapop. He usually didn't come to school. I even heard a rumor awhile ago that he dropped out. Guess not.

"Did you see Johnny?" Jill said not so quietly. I blushed a little. Did she really have to announce that?

"Maybe. Did you see Two-bit?" I said back to her. She blushed and looked a little angry.

"Yeah. I swear he tried to grab my ass," she said and started telling us the whole story.

Honestly, I kinda blocked out most of it. I searched the cafeteria for Johnny. I looked over to where Stella saw Soda, but they were gone. I wasn't too surprised though. Johnny and his friends almost never ate lunch in the cafeteria.

"Hello? El? Lunch is over," Jill said interrupting my thoughts. I looked up and realized the cafeteria was quickly growing empty. I got up and threw out my stuff.

Ponyboy POV

Me, Steve, Two-bit, Johnny, and Soda walked to the store by school. We never really ate in the cafeteria cause we didn't feel like dealing with the Socs. Soda was in school today. He had dropped out awhile ago, but decided to give it another try. Darry probably talked some sense into him.

"Hey Soda, what about her?" Steve pointed to a girl across the street. Soda just shook his head slightly. He barely even looked at the girl. Steve was trying to set Soda up with a new girl. After the whole Sandy thing, Soda hasn't been himself. It wasn't that he wasn't open to being happy again, he just wasn't sure if he was ready or not.

"Hey Johnny, wanna grab another coke before we go back?" I asked looking over at him. He nodded and followed me in. I bought the cokes and we began walking back to school. The rest of the guys were cutting. Boy, I hope Darry doesn't find out Soda skipped on his first day back.

I looked over at Johnny. He was acting weird ever since Friday night. I tried to ask him about it but he didn't wanna talk about it. It's almost like he's been avoiding me. I mean, it wasn't like him to just run out like he did Friday. Maybe he just didn't wanna come to the movies with us. Maybe he didn't like Ellie and didn't want me going with her. Maybe he wanted to go with just me. All these scenarios were possible.

After a while, I gave up on getting it out of him. If he really didn't wanna talk about it than he didn't have to. But if he started acting weird again, I'd bring it up. I would talk to him even if he did try avoiding me again. He was my best friend for Pete's sake! Could he really be hiding something from me?

JPOV

I walked back to school with Ponyboy after lunch. I looked over at him, expecting him to bring up Friday night again. Surprisingly, he didn't. He just sipped his coke and looked up to the sky. He was probably busy day-dreaming or something. At least that will get him off my case for a while.

I still felt bad about avoiding Ponyboy. I kept telling myself that I'd tell him soon, but I know I probably wouldn't. The gang doesn't mean to, but they always make me feel weaker or inferior to the rest of them. Telling Ponyboy I had a thing for a girl who never even noticed me wouldn't help. I sighed and looked down at the sidewalk.

I saw her this morning. I ran right into her. I was blushing like crazy trying to pick up her books and she ran away. That made me feel real tuff. Not really. Then Two-bit saw the whole thing! I swear he's gonna tease me about it the next chance he gets.

I looked up and realized we were back at school. We finished our cokes and stopped at our lockers quickly. I told Pony I'd see him later and walked to my Science class. I don't really like school, but this class was okay cause today we were starting on a project. The teacher was gonna assign something for the Science fair. I'd probably just sit there and hope my partner thought of an idea. Too bad Ponyboy wasn't in this class. We could have paired up.

The teacher had people lining up against the back of the room. She said she was changing up the seats so people could sit with their partners. I stood in the back by the window. This was getting pretty boring. All of a sudden I heard my name called out.

"Huh?" I asked. I probably sounded pretty dumb cause a few of the Soc kids started laughing.

The teacher sighed and repeated herself. "Your sitting over here." She pointed to a desk and I walked over to it quietly. I hate getting called on in class for any reason. Whenever I get called on tons of people look over at me and it's kind of annoying.

"Elizabeth Brown. Right over here," the teacher said and I looked up. Who'd Elizabeth get as a partner? I looked at the teacher and saw that she was pointing at me. What now?

I didn't realize it until Elizabeth actually sat down across from me. Man, I really have bad luck.

EPOV

I walked out of the cafeteria with Anne. We both had Science next, so we got our things and walked over.

"You know she's picking partners for the Science project today?" Anne asked me.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I have no idea what I'm gonna do," I admitted to her.

"I've got a few ideas. Hopefully she'll pair us up together," Anne said as we walked into the classroom.

"Yeah. I really hope so. But knowing me, I'm not that lucky," I said sighing.

The teacher directed us to the back of the room. We were some of the first people there. Hopefully this wouldn't take long cause I was getting bored. After what seemed like forever, more people started filing in. I saw Johnny walk in and felt my face heat up a little. I looked down, trying not to look over at him.

"Alright, guys. When I call out your name come over to me and I'll tell you where to sit," our teacher Mrs. Silver began. I wasn't sure if she was going in alphabetical order or anything so I just listened for my name. After a few people got called out I was getting impatient.

"Johnny Cade," Mrs. Silver called. I looked over at Johnny, who was looking out the window. He didn't answer her and she called out his name again. He looked up in surprise.

"Huh?"

"Your sitting over here," Mrs. Silver said sighing. Some of the Soc guys were laughing at Johnny. I looked over at them, shaking my head. They were so annoying sometimes.

"Elizabeth Brown." I heard my name called and looked up. I walked towards the teacher.

"Right over here," she pointed and I followed her finger. My eyes landed on Johnny. I looked back at the teacher. You have got to be kidding me. Was this some kind of joke?

Sighing, I walked over to the seat opposite from Johnny. He looked up at me with wide eyes. I guess he just noticed me sitting there.

"Hi," I uttered quietly. I felt my face get a little red as I looked over at him.

"Hey," he replied and smiled.

I fidgeted in my seat while Mrs. Silver explained the project. I kept seeing Johnny looking at me through the corner of my eye, but every time I looked he wasn't looking anywhere near me. I guess I was just imagining things.

I can't believe I got Johnny as my partner. How was I gonna work on a project with him if every time I see him my face turns into a tomato? Things would definitely get awkward. I wasn't exactly looking forward to this.

Another part of me was kind of happy. This would mean spending lots of time with him. Maybe by some chance, I'll overcome my awkwardness and actually get him to like me! I almost had laugh out loud at myself for that last thing. As much as I tried I'd always be a bit awkward. It's not that I'm not social or anything, It's just that I can be horribly shy. I hated it.

Mrs. Silver finished and told us to start brainstorming ideas for our project. I looked over at Johnny who was looking over at me.

"So," I began.

"So." Johnny said back to me.

Well, this should be interesting. Let the awkwardness begin.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Took a while but here it is ! :D Comment :)

JPOV

"So," Elizabeth said looking over at me. Man, she sure was pretty. I smiled, a little zoned out and then realized she was staring at me. I shook the thoughts out of my head and tried to say something.

"W-what?" I stuttered and looked down at my desk. I was a complete idiot.

"Do you have any ideas for the project?" She asked me and I looked up. I laughed a little at her question.

"No, not really," I replied. I wasn't that good at stuff like this. I wasn't stupid, but I wasn't a straight A student like Pony.

"Me either," she said sighing. I looked over at her and our eyes met. My face heated up and I looked away. I don't know how I was gonna get through this project if I couldn't even handle sitting across from her.

We didn't say anything for a while. It was awkward. I hated that it was like that, but I had no idea what to say to her. I'd rather sit in silence than say something stupid to her.

"Um, maybe we could meet up after school tomorrow," she said quietly. I looked up quickly. What did she mean? Was she asking me to hang out with her?

"You know, so we could think of our project idea and stuff," she said again when I didn't respond. Oh, yeah. The project. I kinda forgot about that.

"Oh, yeah. Okay," I replied just as the bell rang. She got her stuff together and looked at me.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Elizabeth said smiling. I smiled back at her and nodded. She walked out and I was left sitting there. Even though she only asked me to meet her after school cause of the project, I was pretty happy.

I went to my locker and got my stuff before leaving. I headed towards my house, which was only a couple blocks away. I walked up to the porch and heard screaming coming from inside. I didn't need to open the door to tell that my parents were drunk and fighting. I was in too good of a mood to get into that. Pony's house it is then, I thought as I turned around and walked towards the Curtis' house.

I walked into the Curtis house and saw Ponyboy poke his head out of his room in surprise.

"Johnny? I thought you said you were going to your house," Pony said to me as he walked out and into the living room.

"Yeah, I was. But, my folks are fighting again so. . ." I said and looked back at him. He smiled sympathetically.

"Oh, okay. Well I gotta finish my homework, but I'll be done soon," He told me as I sat down on the couch.

"Alright," I replied and turned on the t.v.

"Hey, are you staying tonight?" He turned around again and asked. I thought for a second. Maybe when I got back they'd be done fighting. Yeah, right, I thought rolling my eyes. Besides, I didn't wanna have any new bruises or scratches for tomorrow.

"Yeah, I guess. If it's okay," I said and looked over at him.

"Of course it's okay, Johnny," Pony replied and smiled. I smiled back at him as he walked to his room.

I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes. I began thinking about tomorrow and got a little nervous. What was I gonna say to her? What were we gonna do? Where were we even gonna go? We sure couldn't go to my house.

"Hey Johnny," Two-bit said as he walked in and the screen door slammed. I looked up at him and he plopped down on the couch next to me. He smiled like he was gonna do something I wouldn't like.

"So, you and Elizabeth huh?" He said loudly and my eyes almost popped out of my head.

"Two-bit!" I practically hissed at him and gestured towards Pony's room.

"What? He doesn't know yet?" He said again still a little loud.

"SH!" I begged him with my eyes to shut up. I heard a noise come from Pony's room and froze. I looked towards his room, but the door was still closed and it didn't seem like he heard us. I let out a huge sigh of relief and looked back at Two-bit. He was just staring at me, confused.

"I can't believe you didn't say anything. You guys are always together, I figured you worked it out already," Two-bit said and flipped through the channels on the t.v.

"We haven't talked about it. I just can't tell him yet," I explained to him and leaned back against the couch again.

"You better hope he doesn't find out some other way," Two-bit told me and I looked over at him in surprise. He looked back at me.

"What? I don't mean I'm gonna say anything, I just mean he could find out. I mean, the kid's not stupid, it probably won't take him long to figure it out," Two-bit said. He was right. I'd have to talk to Pony about it. Just not tonight.

"I will," I replied and looked towards the t.v.

"So, how is your situation going?" Two-bit asked me quietly. My face heated up a little.

"Well, I don't know. Wait. How do you even know about that?" I asked him.

"Psh, come on! I saw you two in the hallway. Despite what most people think, I'm not that stupid."

"Yeah, well we just got paired up to be partners for a science project," I muttered.

"Oh! Well there ya go, man! Make your move, Johnnycakes," he said wiggling his eyebrows at me. My face got even redder. He looked over at me and cracked up. I just rolled my eyes at him.

"But really, I could help you out! You know, give you advice and stuff," he offered and looked over at me. He looked pretty excited and I laughed.

"I don't know Two-bit. She's definitely not like the girls you go out with," I told him. Not to mention I couldn't even do most of the stuff he does to get girls. It just wasn't me.

"Yeah, I know. But I could still help. See listen, I'll give you some pointers on what to do and say," he continued.

"Alright. I guess it can't hurt," I sighed and listened to what he was saying.

EPOV

Even though I knew awkwardness was inevitable, I tried to make the best out of this.

"So," I said looking over at him.

He just stared back at me. Was there something on my face? I started to panic a bit, but then he spoke up.

"W-what?" He asked and I smiled.

"Do you have any ideas for the project?" I didn't really think he had any ideas , but I didn't either.

He laughed a little and said, "No, not really."

"Me either," I said and sighed. This was not going to be easy.

After that it got kinda awkward. It was horrible. I couldn't help it even if I tried though. After a while I just had to say something.

"Do you want to meet after school tomorrow?" I asked him. He looked up quickly, a little surprised. My face heated up when I realized how that could sound like something else.

"You know, to think of ideas for the project and stuff," I added quickly.

"Oh, yeah. Okay," he replied.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," I said and got my stuff together. The bell rang and I walked out happily.

I walked towards my locker with a big grin on my face. I spotted Jill and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and the smile on my face disappeared. She looked miserable. She was frowning and looked close to tears. If anyone else saw her they would just assume she was angry, but I knew better. She was really upset.

Some people thought Jill was always mad. Other people even called her bi-polar once. The fact that she screamed at them after that didn't help. For the most part she was just loud. She could come off as obnoxious or bitchy, but I knew her a lot better than most people.

"What's the matter?" I asked her quietly and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I hate him!" she said, her voice cracking. Oh, no. She's gonna be yelling soon, I thought to myself. I had to get her out of here before she had a breakdown. She's done it before and it didn't turn out well. I looked at her as she got teary eyed.

"Okay. Calm down and wipe your eyes. You can explain everything when we get to my house," I said quickly getting my stuff to go.

"I really hate him!" Jill said again, this time a little louder. Oh, gosh.

"Jill, you're getting kinda loud-"

"I don't care. I really just don't care anymore!" She said cutting me off. She said she didn't care but I knew she did.

I didn't feel like fighting her over it, so I just grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the door. A few people looked at us, but quickly looked away when Jill glared at them. She resisted at first, but eventually she just began walking normally beside me. She was actually quiet for once.

"Alright. What happened, and who do you hate?" I asked her once we were a few blocks away from the school.

"It's not just one thing. I'm mad at a lot of stuff. What happened today just kinda set it all off," she said.

"What happened today?" I asked again, urging her to tell me.

"Two-bit is a jerk! Remember when I told you how he was flirting with me again this morning? Yeah, well it turns out he does it to pretty much everyone. Nothing special," she said bitterly and looked away from me.

"Oh. I-I didn't know you liked him that much," I said quietly.

"I do. And it sucks. He flirts with me and it's great. Then, he acts like a total jerk to me and I just wanna punch him," she told me as we walked up the steps to my house.

"What else are you mad at?" I asked, walking into the house.

"The usual, I guess. My dad, my mom, it's just . . ." she left off and sighed. She followed me into my room and sat on my bed. I sat on my window seat and looked over at her.

"I called my dad last night. We got into another fight." Tears started running down her face and she tried to wipe them away quickly.

"I always try so hard to talk to him. I always try to pretend like he's a normal, loving father but I'm starting to feel like he really just doesn't care!"

She started crying for real then, and I felt like I should do something. I usually don't do this, but I walked over to her and hugged her. She hugged me back and I tried to calm her down again.

"If he doesn't care about you, then he's not worth it. You have tons of other people that care about you. And you have your mom and Shawn, I mean, isn't he more like a father to you now?" I asked her and she stopped crying for a second.

"Yeah, I guess he is."

"So then, if your dad wants to talk to you or see you, good. But if he doesn't, than just remember that you have so many other people who care," I told her and she let go of me. She wiped her eyes and looked back at me.

"You're right. He's so not worth it," she said sighing.

"And Two-bit. Two-bit is insane. He doesn't realize he's even flirting with people sometimes. I mean, I don't really know him that well enough to tell, but from what I've seen I think he really likes you," I told her truthfully.

She shook her head and laughed a little. Then she hugged me.

"Thanks. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you to listen to all my crap," she said laughing.

I laughed with her, knowing she was telling the truth. "You're welcome." She let go of me and took a deep breath.

"Do you have any food?" She asked and we both started cracking up.

JPOV

"Ponyboy wake up! Ya got school today."

I woke up that morning to Darry cooking breakfast. I yawned and got up off the couch.

"Hey Johnny. Want some breakfast?" Darry asked me from the kitchen.

"Sure," I replied sitting down at the kitchen table. Ponyboy walked in soon after.

"Mornin'," he said to me. I nodded towards him, shoving eggs into my mouth. I didn't realize how hungry I was.

I helped Pony with the dishes and followed him back into his room. Soda was using the bathroom so we had to wait to take our showers.

"Hey, um, Ponyboy?" I asked him nervously. I didn't usually do this, but I didn't want Elizabeth to see me wearing the same clothes two days in a row.

"Yeah?" He said getting his own clothes out.

"Uh, do you think I could maybe borrow some clothes?" I asked him looking down.

"Oh. Well, yeah sure," he replied sounding a little confused. I didn't usually care what I looked like. I hoped he wouldn't ask me about it. He tossed me a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Thanks," I said smiling gratefully at him.

"Welcome," he replied taking his stuff into the bathroom.

A little while later, he came out and I took my shower. When we were both dressed we started greasing our hair. I pushed my hair back and watched as my bangs came back down onto my face again. I sighed and tried again. It wasn't working so I just put some grease in it and left it the way it was.

"Hey, did you get that Science project yesterday?" Pony asked me, greasing his own hair.

"Yeah. . .why?" I asked him. Did he know I got Elizabeth as my partner?

"Just askin'. I got it too. I got some Soc as my partner," he told me annoyed. "Who'd you get?" He asked me and I stiffened.

"Oh. Uh, I got Elizabeth," I muttered and walked out of the bathroom and getting my backpack.

"Elizabeth Brown?" He asked me, following me out into the living room.

"Yeah," I said and turned around to look at him.

"Oh. Cool," he said back to me, looking a little surprised.

"Yeah. We should get going right?" I asked him and opened the front door.

EPOV

I woke up that morning almost as nervous as I was yesterday. I momentarily forgot about my embarrassment about last Friday because of everything going on. I hoped Johnny had forgotten too. I still don't know how he felt about it, but maybe we could both just forget about it. That would be easier for me than him though, considering I don't actually remember anything.

After my shower I walked back into my room to get changed. I want to look really good today, I thought. Should I do my hair differently? Should I wear more make-up than I usually do? Mostly, I just wear a little bit of make-up. I'd never wear as much as some of the other girls at my school. Finally, I just decided I'd do my hair and make-up like I usually do and just wear a pretty outfit. When I was happy with how I looked I went to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Well, don't you look pretty!" My mom smiled at me as she put my plate down in front of me.

"What do you have a special date or something?" My dad teased me and laughed when I rolled my eyes.

"No," I huffed, hoping my parents wouldn't notice me blushing.

I finished my breakfast and started getting my stuff together. Just as we were walking out the door I remembered that I hadn't told my mom about the project yet.

"Hey, um. Mom?" I asked her.

"Yeah?" She replied distractedly, getting into the car.

"Is it okay if I come home a little late today? I'm gonna meet with my partner to start thinking of ideas for our science project," I asked her.

"Alright. That's okay. What time do you think you'll be coming home?" She looked over and asked me as we drove down the block.

"Around 5:00 or 5:30?" I suggested.

"Okay. Who's your science partner?" She asked me turning the corner.

"Oh. Uh, I don't think you know him," I muttered looking out the window.

"Try me," she said with a smile in her voice. Did she already figure out that that's the reason I look so nice?

"Johnny Cade," I said to her figuring she'd have no idea who he was.

"Oh. I guess your right, I don't think I know him," she said. "But he must be special if your dressing up for him."

"Mom, I'm not even dressed up. I'm just wearing my new skirt. And besides, that's not why I'm wearing it," I explained to her trying to hide my blushing.

"Okay, what ever you say," my mom said and laughed.

Most of my day was really annoying. Whenever I got nervous about meeting him after school, the clock seemed to speed up. Then, when I wished the school day would just finish already so I could see him, my classes dragged on. I seriously couldn't win. By the end of my last class I wished things would go back to slow motion. To say I was nervous was an understatement.

I walked to my locker to get my stuff before I went to find Johnny. I opened my locker and took out some of my books when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey Jill," I said turning around and facing Johnny instead. I almost dropped a few of my books when I realized Jill was no where near me. Just as one book was about to fall to the ground, Johnny caught it and handed back to me.

"Hi. Sorry, I thought you were Jill," I said blushing and finished packing up my books.

"It's alright," Johnny replied with a slight smile. I smiled back as I closed my locker.

"You ready to go?" He asked me and gestured towards the doors that went out to the front of the school.

"Yeah," I replied. My stomach did a somersault as I followed him towards the doors.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry this took so long ! :( I was catching up with school work and of course right when I was about to post this, my computer got a virus -_- yay. I would really love it people could review more :) Just tell me if you like it, if you don't, what I should do, and how I can improve. Thanks ! :D

EPOV

We walked out the doors of the school and down the front steps. When we got on the sidewalk I remembered that we didn't even know where we were going.

"Do you wanna go to the park?" I asked and looked over at him. He got a weird look on his face and I wondered what he was thinking.

"Uh, sure," he replied and nodded. Then it hit me. People usually go to the park to make-out. . .and a few other things. My face heated up and I hoped he didn't think I meant that.

The park wasn't too far from the school, so the walk was short. It was really nice out. I could have sworn I saw Johnny looking at me from the corner of my eye, but of course when I looked back he was looking in the opposite direction. We walked into the park and I saw the playground. My eyes zeroed in on the swings and I smiled.

"I love the swings," I said not realizing I'd said it out loud. Johnny looked over at me and smiled.

"Well lets go then," he said gesturing towards the swings.

"Really?" I looked over at him.

"Yeah," he said and walked closer to me.

We started walking towards them and passed the fountain. I turned around and realized Johnny wasn't walking next to me anymore. He was over by the fountain, just looking at it. He looked upset and maybe even a little scared. I frowned and walked over to him.

"Johnny, are you okay?" I asked him gently.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. I was just. . ." he left off looking at the fountain again.

"It's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," I said, hoping he was alright.

"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath and nodding back at me.

"Come on, the swings will cheer you up," I said, smiling. A small smile crossed his face. I took his hand and we ran over to the swings. We stood in front of the swings and I realized I was still holding onto his hand. I blushed and let got quickly. I sat on one of the swings and he sat on the one beside me. I started swinging a little and looked over at him.

"So, uh. . .how was your day?" he asked me. I smiled and giggled a little.

"Fine, I guess. Boring, but fine," I said.

"Me too," he smiled and started to swing with me.

"What, Two-bit didn't do anything outrageous today?" I asked, joking. He laughed and shook his head.

"Surprisingly, no. He just constantly teases me and Pony, which isn't as outrageous as it used to be. Now it's just something we expect him to do," he said quietly shaking his head.

"I know how you feel. Jill is the same way sometimes. She always says I'm too shy and stuff," I said back to him kicking my feet on the ground.

"Yeah, that what some of the gang says about me too," he said quietly looking over at me.

"It's just that this is how I am. I couldn't be that loud, obnoxious person even if I tried," I confessed looking at the ground.

"Sometimes I just don't wanna talk too much and they make it into a big deal like I never say anything at all," he said looking off.

"Jill and Two-bit are almost exactly the same. They're loud and they make fun of us," I said laughing.

"Yeah," he laughed and looked back at me. I've never seen him laugh before. He looked so cute when he did. I blushed and looked away. Then, something caught my eye behind him. There were a few butterflies and they were coming towards us.

"Oh my gosh," I said and started cracking up. A butterfly just landed on Johnny's head and he had no idea.

"What?" he asked me, confused.

"On your head!" I managed to get out and pointed to the butterfly. He spun around and was faced with even more butterflies. He yelled in surprise and fell of the swing, landing in the grass. I couldn't help but start laughing even more. I got off the swing and knelt down next to him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, still giggling a little. He looked up at me and smiled.

"Yeah, I guess," he said and started laughing. "Is it off my head?"

"Yes, it's gone," I said and started laughing again. I held out my hand to help him up and he grabbed it.

"It's not that funny," he said, embarrassed.

"Yeah, it really is," I said pulling him up off the ground.

"Oh really?" he smiled back at me and pulled my arm down. I fell on the ground next to him and started laughing. I pushed him arm and smiled.

"That was not funny!"

"Yes it was," he said back to me, still laughing. We sat there laughing for a while, just laying the grass.

"Hey! That could be our science project," I said looking over at him.

"What?" he asked.

"The butterflies. We could have caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies. We would just have to make lots of charts and stuff so Mrs. Silver will think we worked hard," I explained.

"Okay. As long as they stay away from my head," he said smiling. I laughed and looked back at him.

"I can't promise that," I said, joking. He laughed and rolled his eyes at me. I smiled and sat up in the grass. The sun was setting and it looked really pretty. I looked over at Johnny and he was watching it too. He smiled, looking at it and again I wondered what he was thinking about.

"Oh no," I said remembering something.

"Whats the matter?" Johnny asked, looking back at me.

"I told my mom I'd be home around 5:00. . .and I think I'm gonna be late soon," I got up and he did too.

"Okay, lets go. I'll walk you home," he said and I blushed.

"Oh, thanks," I said to him and we walked out of the park. I told him where my house was and we started walking.

I thought the walk home might be awkward, like things usually were, but it wasn't. We talked about school mostly. Which teachers we liked and didn't like. How the popular kids annoyed us. We even talked about the food in the cafeteria. When it was silent, it wasn't an awkward silence. We both didn't feel the need to fill up space. After a while, I realized we got to my house.

"This is my house," I said and stopped. He looked up and walked me to my door.

"Thanks," I said blushing.

"Your welcome," he said quietly back to me. He started to walk down the steps and I called to him. "I'll see you tomorrow." He turned around and smiled back at me. I watched him walk away and down the street. I almost had a heart attack when my front door opened right behind me.

"Oh. I knew I heard someone," my dad started. "What are you doing just standing out here?" He looked at me and then tried to follow my gaze down the street. I blushed and squeezed in the door.

"Nothing," I said quickly and walked away into the kitchen.

JPOV

My heart was beating loudly in my chest as I walked up to her. She was putting some of her books in her locker and I stood behind her. Do something before she turns around and thinks your just standing here watching her! I thought to myself. Before she could turn around, I tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey Jill," she said turning around and facing me. She looked surprised and one of her books was about to fall out of her hands. I caught it quickly and handed it back to her.

"Hi. Sorry, I thought you were Jill," she said and finished packing up her books. She sounded nervous, but I didn't know what she could be nervous about. Maybe she still didn't come up with any ideas for the project. I didn't care much about the project, I was just happy that this would give me an excuse to be with her. But I knew she cared about the project. Hopefully I'd be able to help her as much as I could.

"It's alright," I replied, smiling. She looked back at me and smiled. I started getting nervous again. I hoped she couldn't tell.

"Y-You ready to go?" I asked her and gestured towards the doors that went out to the front of the school. Great. Now she probably noticed I'm nervous. I took a deep breath and tried to be calm.

"Yeah," she replied, closing her locker and following me out the doors.

We walked out the doors of the school and down the front steps. When we got on the sidewalk Elizabeth stopped walking.

"Do you wanna go to the park?" she asked and looked over at me. The park. The last time I was at the park was the night Ponyboy almost got killed. That was the same night I almost killed Bob. I shuddered, remembering. Thank God Soda and Darry drove by when they did. If they hadn't showed up. . .well I don't wanna think about what might of happened. I looked down and then remembered she was waiting for me to answer her.

"Uh, sure," I replied, nodding.

We started walking towards the park. It was pretty close. I looked over at Elizabeth a few times. She was staring up at the sky and she looked happy. Just as she turned to look at me, I looked away, blushing. We walked into the park and Elizabeth looked towards the playground.

"I love the swings," she said and I looked over at her, smiling. I liked them too. When I was younger and things at home weren't bad yet, my mom would take me here and push me on the swings.

"Well lets go then," I said gesturing towards the swings.

"Really?" she said and looked over at me. The wind blew through her hair and she looked really pretty. I moved closer towards her, almost unconsciously.

"Yeah," I said and she smiled.

We started walking towards them and passed the fountain. I stopped and looked at it. This was where it all happened. It was the first time I'd seen it since that night. I could remember it like it was yesterday. Ponyboy screaming at me for help, my fear as I took my blade out of my back pocket, the Socs laughing, and the screeching of Darry's tires.

"Johnny, are you okay?" I heard Elizabeth ask me gently. I looked over at her, frowning.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. I was just. . ." I left off looking at the fountain again.

"It's okay. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," she said and I looked back at her. She wasn't looking at me like I was weird for staring at the fountain. She looked genuinely concerned. She actually looked like she cared.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath and nodding back at her. If I just tried to keep the bad memories out of my head, I'd be fine. I've been doing it for a while now so it shouldn't be this hard. I guess it's cause I finally came back to were it all happened.

"Come on, the swings will cheer you up," she said, smiling. I smiled back at her and she took my hand. I blushed and was a little shocked. We started running towards the swings and I couldn't help grinning. I felt like a little kid. We stood in front of the swings for a while and Elizabeth quickly dropped my hand. I blushed and noticed that she was blushing too, which just made my face heat up even more. She got on one of the swings and I sat on the one next her.

"So, uh. . .how was your day?" I asked her. She looked over at me smiling.

"Fine, I guess. Boring, but fine," she said, swinging.

"Me too," I said and started to swing with her.

"What, Two-bit didn't do anything outrageous today?" she asked, joking. I laughed and shook my head.

"Surprisingly, no. He just constantly teases me and Pony, which isn't as outrageous as it used to be. Now it's just something we expect him to do," I said quietly shaking his head. More like just me. He's still been bugging me about advice on girls. I'm surprised he didn't tip Ponyboy off yet.

"I know how you feel. Jill is the same way sometimes. She always says I'm too shy and stuff," she said, kicking the ground.

"Yeah, thats what some of the gang says about me too," I murmured and looked back at her. It was hard to believe that she got teased. I mean, I guess if you thought about it she was more shy than the other kids at school but I didn't think she was as shy as I was.

"It's just that this is how I am. I couldn't be that loud, obnoxious person even if I tried," she confessed looking at the ground. I knew exactly what she meant. I felt that way around the gang sometimes.

"Sometimes I just don't wanna talk too much and they make it into a big deal like I never say anything at all," I said back to her.

"Jill and Two-bit are almost exactly the same. They're loud and they make fun of us," she said laughing. It was true. I'm pretty sure they'd even get together soon. They looked like they liked each other a lot, but Two-bit had a weird way of showing it sometimes. Maybe he's the one that needs some girl advice.

"Yeah," I laughed and looked back at her. She looked like she was still blushing, but it could have been from the wind. She started looking past me and her eyes lit up.

"Oh my gosh," she said and started cracking up.

"What?" I asked her, confused.

"On your head!" she said through gasps and pointed to my head. On my head? I freaked out a little and spun around. Right when I turned, a bunch of butterflies were in my face. I yelled in surprise and fell off the swing and onto the grass. Elizabeth was still laughing and I couldn't blame her. I saw her jump off her swing and kneel down next to me.

"Are you okay?" she asked me, still giggling a little. I looked up at her and smiled.

"Yeah, I guess," I said and started laughing. My head hurt a little from falling though. "Is it off my head?"

"Yes, it's gone," she said and started laughing again. Then, she held out her hand to help me up and I hesitantly grabbed it. First I make myself look like a wimp whose afraid of butterflies, and now she's the one helping me up. This wasn't exactly what I wanted to happen.

"It's not that funny," I said, embarrassed.

"Yeah, it really is," she said pulling me up off the ground.

"Oh really?" I smiled back at her and pulled her arm down, but not too hard. She fell on the ground next to me and started laughing. She pushed my arm and smiled. I was laughing and looking at her. This was going greater than I had expected. I actually felt. . . really happy.

"That was not funny!" she said back to me even though she was still laughing.

"Yes it was," I said back to her, laughing. We sat there laughing for a while, just laying the grass. The breeze was nice, and the sun was starting to set. It was my favorite time of the day.

"Hey! That could be our science project," she said looking over at me.

"What?" I asked. Did she mean the sunset?

"The butterflies. We could have caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies. We would just have to make lots of charts and stuff so Mrs. Silver will think we worked hard," She explained. I didn't really like bugs, but butterflies couldn't be that bad. It sounded like a good project.

"Okay. As long as they stay away from my head," he said smiling. I laughed and looked back at her.

"I can't promise that," she said, joking. I laughed and rolled my eyes at her. She smiled and sat up in the grass. She looked over at the sunset and I looked back at it too. It reminded me of Ponyboy cause I knew he liked watching sunsets. He even told me a poem about it once. I smiled, remembering. I wonder if Elizabeth would like that poem. I couldn't thing of all the words, but I'd probably ask Pony about it later.

"Oh no," she said suddenly and I looked away from the sunset.

"Whats the matter?" I asked, looking back at her.

"I told my mom I'd be home around 5:00. . .and I think I'm gonna be late soon," she got up and I did too.

"Okay, lets go. I'll walk you home,"I said and blushed a little. I didn't want her to walk home alone. I was pretty sure her neighbor hood wasn't as bad as mine was, but it was still dangerous out there.

"Oh, thanks," she said to me and we walked out of the park. She told me where her house was and we started walking.

On the way to her house we talked about lots of stuff. Mostly we talked about things at school. We talked about things like teachers, Socs, and cafeteria food. When it was silent, it wasn't awkward like I thought it would be. It felt nice. After a while, I realized we got to her house.

"This is my house," she said and stopped. I looked up and walked her to her door.

"Thanks," I said quietly looking at me. I blushed and smiled back at her.

"Your welcome," I said and started to walk down the steps of her porch. I closed her gate and she called back at me. quietly back to me.

"I'll see you tomorrow."I turned around, smiling at her and nodded. I walked down the street thinking. Man. I really got myself into something, didn't I?


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Thanks so much for the great reviews ! ^.^ More reviews means faster updates... :D

EPOV

The next day I walked down the hallway towards my locker with Jill next to me. It was almost time for lunch and we were dropping off our books.

"Oh! I forgot to ask you, who'd you get as a partner for the science project?" Jill asked and looked over at me. I smiled instantly and laughed a little.

"You might not believe me if I told you. I didn't know whether to be happy or scared," I confessed to her, blushing slightly. She looked back at me, confused for a second. Then I saw it come to her. Her eyes lit up and she smiled knowingly at me.

"No way!" she said as we reached our lockers. I laughed and started putting my books in.

"Yes way," I replied.

"Oh gosh. What did you guys do sit there and stare at each other?" She said laughing. I looked back at her and rolled my eyes.

"Shut up. That's not what happened. Alright, maybe in the beginning, but it got better!" I told her blushing again. That really got her laughing. I couldn't help laughing with her cause now that I thought about it, it was kinda funny.

"Hey girls, what's so funny?" I heard someone drawl behind us. I didn't have to turn around to know it was Two-bit. I heard Jill stop laughing next to me and slam her locker door shut. I rolled my eyes again. Here we go.

"None of your business. What do you want?" she said coolly and I turned around. Two-Bit was leaning against the locker next to Jill's. I laughed and turned back to my own locker. Then, I came face to face with Johnny. I jumped a little, not realizing he was there. He smiled and laughed a little at my reaction.

"Oh. Hi, I-I didn't see you there," I replied blushing.

"Hi," he said quietly back to me. "Do you uh. . .wanna work on the project again today?"

"Don't be like that, Jill!" I heard Two-bit say and I looked back at them. I laughed quietly and looked back at Johnny. He too was trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, but I have to go home first to watch my brother for my mom," I explained half listening to Jill and Two-Bit.

"You have a brother?" Johnny asked suddenly.

"Oh, yeah two. One older, one younger," I said and smiled at him. I hoped he wouldn't ask about my older brother. I couldn't get into that now.

"Oh," Johnny nodded.

"Maybe if you weren't a jerk the other day," we heard Jill say loudly and we both turned around, startled. I rolled my eyes at them and turned back to Johnny again.

"Do you remember where I live?" I asked him.

"Uh, yeah I think so," he said back to me.

"Okay, well just meet me there after school. My mom should be home by the time you get there," I said and he nodded.

"Jill, Come on!" Two-bit said and I heard Jill sigh.

"Two-bit, we have to go to lunch. I'll talk to you later," Jill said to him and grabbed my arm. Was she seriously gonna drag me to the cafeteria with her? She pulled my arm harder. Yup, I guess she was.

"I gotta go. I'll see you later, Johnny," I smiled apologetically.

"Okay, see you later," Johnny said. Jill pulled me again and I stumbled backwards. Johnny started laughing and my face got red. I turned around quickly, pulling away from Jill before I fell on my butt.

"Thanks," I hissed at her. She rolled her eyes at me and smiled.

"Your welcome."

JPOV

I walked out the school doors with Ponyboy. He was headed home and I started to walk in the opposite direction.

"Uh, Johnny? My house is this way," Ponyboy said after me, confused.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you I gotta meet Elizabeth," I said quietly.

"Oh. Okay. Um, I guess I'll just see you later," he said and walked off. He sounded kinda annoyed. I knew he liked her! This was why I couldn't talk to him about it. It was too embarrassing.

I continued down the sidewalk and tried to remember the way to her house. I started to notice the houses looked a lot like some of the ones on the Soc side of town. I didn't think I was in Soc territory, but it was starting to look like I was. I passed a house and then did a double take. Is that her house? I couldn't remember. I'm pretty sure that was it.

I walked up to the porch, praying I didn't have the wrong house. I stood there staring at the door. Finally, I worked up the courage to ring to doorbell. I rang it once and stepped a few inches away from the door. I didn't hear anything and I started to get even more nervous. Then, the door opened and a lady answered the door.

"Hello," she said looking at me curiously.

"Hi. Is, uh, Elizabeth here?" I asked, cursing myself for stuttering again. This was probably Elizabeth's mom! I had to at least try and make a good first impression.

"Oh, yes. You must be Johnny!" she said smiling. "Elizabeth should be down soon, you can come inside and wait." I nodded and followed her into the house. If possible, I was even more nervous. I wasn't good at this, making small talk with peoples' parents and stuff. Especially a parent that looked like a Soc. But, she seemed really nice so hopefully this wouldn't be too bad.

"Ellie, Johnny's here!" her mom called up the stairs.

"Kay, I'll be down in a second," I heard Elizabeth reply from upstairs.

"So,-" her mom started but was cut of by the sound of a phone ringing. "Let me just get that," she said gesturing towards the kitchen and walking away. I silently thanked God that I wouldn't have to awkwardly answer her questions.

"Who are you?" I heard from behind me. I turned around and saw a little kid coming out of the living room. I'm guessing he was Elizabeth's little brother. He looked to be around 6 or 7 years old.

"Um, I'm Johnny," I said and the little kid nodded.

"Your name sounds like my name! My name's John, and sometimes my mom and dad call me Johnny," he said and I smiled. Not many people knew this, but I kinda liked little kids. They always just said what they thought and were always trying to have fun.

"Cool," I said.

"Wanna watch TV?" he asked. I couldn't just say no, so I nodded and followed him into the living room. He jumped onto the couch and I sat down too. He kept pointing out things in the show and jumping around. I started laughing when he got off the couch and tried to do some weird kicking thing.

"Hey," I heard and turned my head. Elizabeth was standing there smiling at us.

"Hi," I said blushing.

"Hey, John, what are you doing?" she asked him laughing.

"This thing on TV. Did you see me, Johnny?" he asked me and I nodded.

"Yeah, I saw it," I said and laughed as he did it again.

"John, come on stop. You don't want mom to see and get mad," she said laughing.

"Fine," John pouted and sat down on the couch with his arms crossed. Me and Elizabeth laughed silently. She gestured towards the front door and I followed her.

"That was nice of you, to sit with him and stuff," she smiled and I blushed again.

"Oh, yeah. It was nothing, he's funny," I said and smiled. She laughed and looked towards the front door.

"Let me just go tell my mom we're leaving," she said and walked towards the kitchen. She came back shortly with money in her hand.

"What's that for?" I asked before saying goodbye to John and following her out the door.

"It's for the caterpillars," she said and shut the door behind her.

"Oh. The caterpillars."

EPOV

We walked into the pet store and the bells on the door jingled. Surprisingly, the place didn't smell too bad. There were tons of cages and aisles of pet food. Me and Johnny walked up to the old man at the counter.

"Hi. Do you have any caterpillars?" I didn't want to go around the store looking for them so I figured I'd just ask.

"Caterpillars?" He asked, looking a little confused.

"Uh, yeah. Caterpillars," I said again, nodding.

"Alright. I think I might have some. Let me go check," he walked out from behind the counter and towards the back of the store.

I looked at Johnny and he was looking at all the different animals. I looked at the cage closest to the counter and almost screamed. It was tarantula. I heard Johnny snickering behind me at my reaction. I turned around and gave him a look.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing," he replied still chuckling. I rolled my eyes.

"This is disgusting. You have to admit," I said pointing to it.

"No, I agree. I hate bugs," he said shuddering a little. I nodded back at him in agreement.

"Alright. I got the caterpillars!" The clerk came back and announced. I looked over at Johnny and he looked over at me. I didn't wanna grab the cage, and I knew he didn't want to either. He nodded his head at me as if saying _you take it_. I shook my head, my eyebrows furrowed. I mouthed back _no way!_ He pointed at his chest and shook his head as if to say_ I'm not taking it_.

"So, who's gonna take the cage?" the man asked looking at us expectantly. Me and Johnny looked at the man and then back at one another. I gave him the puppy dog face and mouthed,_ please_. He looked back at me and frowned.

"I'll take it," Johnny said sighing. He grabbed the cage by it's handle, carefully. I noticed he was trying hard to not let it get too close to him. I smiled widely and paid for the caterpillars. When we were done, I followed Johnny out of the store.

"Thanks for carrying it," I said and smiled brightly at him. He smiled back, laughing.

"Your welcome. But, now you owe me," he smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"Fair enough," I said laughing.

"So. Now what?" he asked looking over at me.

"Hm. Well I guess we could go get leaves and stuff for the caterpillars. Wanna go to the park again?" I asked him and he nodded.

We walked to the park and sat down in the grassy area next to the playground. A few people gave us weird looks, but I tried to ignore them. We sat down and Johnny held up the cage.

"Uh, where should I put it?" he asked looking nervously at it.

"Um. I guess just down by us. But not too close!" I added a little panicked. If these things got out and started crawling towards me I'd have a heart attack. He put them down and looked back at me. Our eyes met and I blushed.

"N-now... we just pick grass and leaves I guess," I stuttered and started collecting grass, leaves, and a few sticks for the caterpillars. Once I thought we had enough we stared at the cage again. Then we looked back at each other.

"You do it," we both said at the exact same time.

"What? No!" we said again at the same time. I smiled, still trying to be serious.

"Pleeeease Johnny?" I looked up at him with the puppy dog face again. He opened his mouth and closed it again. Then he sighed and handed me what he collected.

"Alright, alright." He replied and I smiled at him again. I hope the next thing we had to do wasn't too bad cause I knew I couldn't get out of something a third time.

He looked at the cage nervously again. Thankfully, all the caterpillars were on the bottom of the cage, so it wasn't like they would make any sudden movement to crawl out. He grabbed the latch on the top and looked over at me. I nodded, urging him to open it. He opened it quickly.

"Quick put it in!" he said and I dumped all of the stuff in. He shut the latch just as fast as he had opened it and we both moved away from the cage.

"Do you think it's okay?" I asked him looking in at the cage.

"Well, I don't think that one's too happy," he said pointing at a caterpillar with a huge leaf on it's head. I started laughing and so did he.

"Oh well. There's no way I'm gonna open it and fix," I said laughing.

"Me either," he said shaking his head.

JPOV

It started getting late and I knew she didn't want to take them home. It was the least I could do. I mean, she thought of the whole idea and she got everything for the project. I also just wanted to make her happy. Plus, I'd mostly sleep in the lot by the grass, so if the caterpillars needed food, it'd be right there.

"I'll take 'em," I said and looked over at her. She looked back at me, confused.

"Oh. Johnny, it's okay. I've made you do everything else. I owe you," she said guiltily.

"No, really. It's okay. I'm fine with taking them," I said and smiled at her.

"Are you sure?" she asked me again.

"Yeah. It's fine," I said nodding at her. Her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Thank you so much!" she said happily and hugged me. My eyes widened and I tensed up a little. I felt my face heat up and I was smiling hugely. Taking the stupid bugs was definitely worth it.

EPOV

"Are you sure?" I asked him again. Johnny suggested taking home the bugs and I felt guilty. He already did all the other stuff, and I did owe him! He looked sincere though.

"Yeah. It's fine," he said nodding at me. Oh my gosh, he was serious. That was so sweet of him!

"Thank you so much!" I said smiling. Then, I hugged him. I usually don't do stuff like this, but it was so sweet of him. Now I wouldn't have to freak out about the bugs in my room! I felt him tense up and I realized what I was doing. My face blushed and I quickly let go of him.

"Oh. Uh, sorry," I said embarrassed.

"No, it's...it's okay," he said, sounding. . .happy? I looked up at him and he was smiling widely and his face was red. I was guessing my face looked almost exactly the same. I looked down at my feet still smiling.

"Um. Ya want me to walk you home?" he said and I looked up. Our eyes met and I tried hard not to look away. I smiled back at him and nodded my head.

"Yeah," I grabbed the cage and looked back at him. "The least I could do is hold it for now."

"Okay," he said laughing and followed me back to my house.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I know it's really short :/ but I'm working on chapter 10, so that should be up soon :3 comment ! :D

Two-bit POV

I came to school on a mission today. I was gonna ask Jill out. I explained my plan to Johnny and Ponyboy as we walked out of our last class before lunch.

"I'm telling ya, she won't be able to say no," I said grinning. Ponyboy laughed and Johnny just smiled and rolled his eyes at me.

"Hey, guys I'll meet you at lunch. I gotta drop these books off at my locker," Ponyboy said before walking away.

"Alright," I said after him. I looked ahead of us and saw Jill and Elizabeth laughing by their lockers.

"Hey, Johnny, look there they are. Alright. Time to make my move. Maybe you can make your move too! Just remember what I told y-" I said to him and he cut me off.

"Shut up, Two-bit," he said blushing like crazy.

"Well then! Someone's feisty today!" I said back to him, laughing. He just shook his head at me and followed me towards the girls.

"Hey girls, what's so funny?" I asked and stood behind them. Jill stopped laughing and slammed her locker closed. She turned around and stared at me.

"None of your business. What do you want?" she said back to me, coolly. What was her problem? Since when was she all mad at me?

"What's the matter with you?" I asked her, confused. She rolled her eyes and turned back to her locker. I moved towards her and leaned against the locker next to hers.

"Um, you," she said and looked back to me.

"Well what did I do?" I asked her, getting a little annoyed. I don't know what she was talking about.

"You know what, never mind. It doesn't matter," she said sounding annoyed. I rolled my eyes. Obviously it mattered.

"Don't be like that, Jill!" I said to her.

"Maybe if you weren't a jerk the other day I wouldn't be."

"What did I do that so bad?" I asked her again. Why couldn't she just say what was the matter?

"I get that you like lots of girls, but that doesn't mean I'm just another girl you can play around with," she said angrily. What? She wasn't a girl was just gonna play around with. I was just about to ask her on a real date! I don't even usually do that for most girls!

"Jill, Come on!" I said to her and she just sighed.

"Two-bit, we have to go to lunch. I'll talk to you later," she said and grabbed Elizabeth's arm. I sighed and shook my head. I looked down at Johnny and he was laughing.

"What the hell just happened?" I said and looked at him again.

"Don't ask me, man," Johnny said, shaking his head and laughing.

"Man, that girl is crazy," I said sighing again.

Ponyboy POV

Me and Johnny walked out of school. I started walking towards my house, figuring he was right behind me. I turned around and saw that he was walking the other way.

"Uh, Johnny? My house is this way," I said after him. Where was he going? He turned around and looked at me, surprised.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you I gotta meet Elizabeth," he said quietly. Elizabeth? Oh, yeah. The science project. Why didn't he tell me before? It's not that big of a deal. I felt like he was keeping everything from me lately.

"Oh. Okay. Um, I guess I'll just see you later," I said and walked off. I was pretty annoyed. First he avoids me, then he starts keeping stuff from me? I'm his best friend, why was he acting like this?


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I know. I'm horrible. I took forever! :( My computer is still broken, so I'm using another one, and I had exams and all that stuff. But now I'm done with all that, so I promise I'll try my hardest to update a lot faster ! Plus I would really love it for people to keep commenting :) That will definitely make me update faster :3

EPOV

I fast walked through the halls. I had to find Johnny and tell him I couldn't work on the project today. I finally saw him, alone at the end of the hallway.

"Johnny!" I called to him when I was a few lockers away. He was leaning against his locker, looking the other way. When he heard me call his name he turned around, surprised. Right when he saw me he smiled and just seeing him smile, made me smile.

"Hi," I said, standing in front of him.

"Hi," he said back and looked into my eyes. I blushed and looked away.

"I can't work on the project after school. I have to watch John," I told him, frowning. I felt bad leaving him with the caterpillars. I also just wanted to be with him after school. I looked over at him and he was frowning a little too.

"Okay," he said and I nodded.

"You sure you'll be okay with the caterpillars?" I asked him half-jokingly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, laughing.

"Good," I replied, laughing with him.

"Oh, um. Here's my phone number," I said quietly, handing him a piece of paper with my number on it. I could have sworn I saw his eyes widen a little.

"You know, in case you need to ask me anything, or . . . something," I told him, trying not to blush.

"O-okay," he stuttered and I smiled. I looked up at him and his face looked a little red.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you later," I said.

"Yeah," he replied as I walked away.

I can't believe I actually went through with it. I almost didn't have the guts to give him to paper with my number, but somehow I pulled it off. I doubted he would actually call me though.

JPOV

I leaned up against my locker, waiting for the rest of the guys. I was looking out the windows on the doors. It looked nice out, and I didn't really wanna be in here. Maybe I'll just leave.

"Johnny!" I heard from behind me and I whipped around. I saw Elizabeth walking towards me. I forgot that I didn't want to be here. I forgot about ditching my last few classes. I smiled.

She smiled back at me and walked closer.

"Hi," she said. Her eyes looked kinda sparkly and I stared at them. She blushed and looked away.

"Hi," I replied, blushing. I'm pretty sure she caught me getting all googly-eyed at her.

" I can' work on the project after school. I have to watch John," she said, frowning up at me. I frowned. I knew I should've ditched.

"Okay," I replied.

"You sure you'll be okay with the caterpillars? She said, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said, laughing with her.

"Good," she said and looked down suddenly.

"Oh, um. Here's my phone number," she said, handing me a small piece of paper. I immediately stopped laughing and looked closely at her. Was she serious? My eyes widened a little as I looked down at the paper in my hand.

"You know, in case you have to ask me anything, or . . . something," she explained to me and I blushed.

"O-okay," I said, still surprised.

"Well, I guess I'll talk to you later," she said, looking up at me again. I looked back at her and nodded.

"Yeah."

She walked back down the hall and I stared after her. I can't believe that really just happened.

"Hey, Johnny!" I heard a loud, obnoxious voice from behind me. Two-bit and Steve walked out if their class and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Well, lookie what we got here!" Steve said grabbing Elizabeth's phone number out of my hand.

"Hey! Come on, man! Give it back," I said, trying to grab it out of his hands.

Steve's eyes widened as he read the paper. "So, Johnny, who's your little girlfriend?" Two-bit pushed me away from Steve and looked at the paper. He cracked up and then suddenly got quiet.

"Steve," Two-bit said frowning and grabbing Steve's shoulder. "Our little Johnnycakes is growing up," he said and started "crying" into Steve's shoulder. I blushed and they started laughing again, practically falling over themselves.

"Give me that," I mumbled, glaring at them. I took the paper out of Steve's hand and quickly put it into my pocket.

"Hey! Come 'ere," Two-bit said, roughly wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I rolled my eyes as they staggered behind me.

"We were thinking about hittin' the town tonight. Whataya say, Johnny?" Two-bit asked. I had nothing better to do so I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied.

"We're probably going to the Dingo to hunt some action," Steve said as we walked down the hall.

"Dal' comin'?" I asked

Two-bit smirked and said, "Yeah, he is."

"See ya guys later," I said and started down the hall.

"Get ready to party tonight!" Two-bit called out to me. I rolled my eyes and laughed. I wouldn't have been surprised if I turned around and saw him jumping around and doing cartwheels. Then I remembered he was too lazy to do any of those things.

The sun shined in my eyes as I walked out of school. Me and Ponyboy started towards his house to meet up with the rest of the guys. I took my jacket off and ran my hands through my hair.

"Man, it's getting' hot out," I said and looked over at him. He silently nodded and looked away from me.

"Hey, Pone? You okay?" I asked him, confused.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he replied, sounding mad. He obviously wasn't fine.

"No you're not. Come on, what's the ma-" I said but he cut me off.

"Johnny, I said I'm fine!" he yelled at me and I looked down, surprised and a little hurt. I was just trying to help. He sighed, and I continued looking at the ground.

"Look, Johnny, I'm sorry. It's just that I feel like you've been avoiding me! And then when we do hangout, you act like nothing's wrong."

I looked up at him for a second and then looked back down. He was right, I was kinda avoiding him towards the beginning of the week. I couldn't explain the whole thing to him now, but I swear I will eventually.

"Pony, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean for ya to think that," I said and looked over at him. He smiled back.

"Really?"

"Yeah! You're my best friend, why would I avoid you?"

"I don't know," he said shrugging.

"I bet I could beat you to your house," I said. I knew I couldn't, but it would be fun to race there.

"Yeah right," he laughed, rolling his eyes. We stopped walked and looked at each other. Pony started running, and I chased after him.

"You're a cheater!"

I sat on the Curtis's couch with Two-bit. He flipped through the channels and sighed.

"I don't think Mickey's on this late," he said, sticking his lip out like a two year old. I looked over at the clock. It was 7 o'clock, so we should be leaving soon. Soda was changing out of his work clothes and we were still waiting for Dally.

After a while of flipping through the channels a few more times, Soda came out of his and Pony's room, pulling a shirt over his head.

"We're just waiting for Dal' now, right?" he asked looking out the window.

"Yeah," I said quietly.

"Hey, where's Steve?" Two-bit asked, hanging upside down off the couch. Suddenly, he fell off, hitting his head on the floor. All of us started cracking up and Two-bit rubbed his head and muttered, "Ow."

Just then, Dally walked in and stared at us in confusion. "What'd I miss?"

"Two-bit's just bein' an idiot again," Soda said, still laughing. He walked towards his room and yelled to Pony to get ready. Dally jumped onto the couch and landed next to me.

"Hey, Johnnycakes," he said putting his arm around my shoulders and giving me a nuggie. I rolled my eyes, laughing.

"Hey, Dal'."

"Let's go!" Soda yelled, walking out of his room with Ponyboy.

"Yeah!" Two-bit exclaimed, running out the door.

We started walking out and Darry reminded Soda and Pony to not get too crazy. I saw Pony roll his eyes. Sometimes I was jealous of Pony cause he had someone like Darry. But then I remembered that I had the gang, so it didn't seem so bad anymore.

Two-bit ran out into the street, yelling. A car came towards him and started beeping like crazy. He dodged out of the way and came onto the sidewalk, cracking up. I swear he really is insane. The rest of the guys just shook their heads and laughed with him.

"So where's Steve, Soda?" Two-bit asked again, finally calming down a little.

"He had to stop home for a while. He's meetin' us at the Dingo," Soda replied.

They all kept laughing and yelling until we finally got to the Dingo. When we got there we saw Steve out front, leaning against his car. He nodded his head towards us.

"Hey, Stevie!" Soda yelled and ran into him. Steve laughed and the two of them wrestled for a while.

Dally led the way into the Dingo and we all sat down at a table. The guys yelled their orders to the waitress. No one was surprised when Two-bit tried to pick her up. She was a blonde after all. I wasn't that hungry, so I just got a coke and some fries.

Ponyboy sat next to me, and like me, he didn't say much. We'd laugh along with the guys and from time to time Pony would say some sarcastic remark to Two-bit or Steve.

Most of the time I wasn't paying attention, so the night kinda flew by. I kept thinking of going back to school Monday and getting to see Elizabeth again. I'm pretty sure we were gonna work on the project Monday, but I wasn't sure. I could always call her. . . Yeah right, I-

"Johnny!" someone yelled in my ear and I almost jumped halfway outta my seat.

"Huh?" I said and looked over. Dally was motioning me towards the door. We were leaving already? I looked over at the clock. It was almost 1 o'clock. Wow, I must of really zoned out.

I got up and followed Dally out the door. Lots of people were hanging out outside. Some people inside their cars, and some on top of their cars. Some guys from the Shepard Gang where their too. All the guys surrounded Tim's T-bird, and me and Dally walked over to meet 'em.

I was looking at the ground, so I didn't see the guy coming. I ran right into him, and looked up, scared he was gonna start something. When I looked up at him, my eyes widened. His eyes looked exactly like Elizabeth's. Not just the color, but everything. It was almost a little creepy.

It wasn't a smart thing, staring at the guy you just ran into. After a few seconds, I realized he was staring back at me and he didn't look happy.

"Hey kid! How 'bout ya look where you're going and stop fucking staring at me?" the guy said looking down at me. (I was a few inches shorter than he was.) He pushed me aside and I stumbled back.

"Hey! What's goin' on over here?" I heard Dally yell from behind me. The guy just stared back at Dally (which some guys were afraid to do.)

"Tell your friend here to watch where he's going," the guy said, annoyed.

"Yeah? How 'bout ya just get outta here," Dally said, not really listening to the guy.

"Psh, whatever, man," the guy said, not really caring, and walked away.

"Man, what's he bi-polar or somethin'?" Dally said as we continued walking towards the rest of the gang.

"You know that guy?" I asked Dal'. He looked kinda like a greaser, but I don't think I've seen him around here.

"Not really. He's some guy from the Brumly gang," Dally replied, rolling his eyes.

"I thought we were good with the Brumly gang," I said, confused. Sometimes they helped us out during a rumble, and sometimes we even helped them.

"I don't know, guess not."

EPOV

I laid down on my bed, listening to the radio. I sighed, closing my eyes. All of my friends were busy, so I'm forced to stay home. Such a great way to spend my Sunday. I got up and went into the kitchen cause I had nothing better to do.

My mom was making my brother lunch, and my dad was on the phone. He looked a bit angry. I sat at the table and tried to listen in, but not be noticed.

"Look, Mike, I've been trying to call you and get together, but you never call me back." I frowned and looked away. He was on the phone with my older brother, Mike.

"Yeah, yeah. Ok. See ya soon. Bye," my dad hung up the phone and sighed.

"What did he say?" my mom asked my dad.

"The same excuses as always," he said shaking his head, "But he said he'd stop by today." My mom nodded her head.

"Okay," she said and finished cooking. "What do you want for lunch, Ellie?" I cleared my head and looked at my mom.

"Um, I don't know," I said quickly, "Dad, Mike's coming over today?"

My dad looked up at me and said, "Yeah, he's gonna stop by for a little bit."

"Okay," I said smiling, "Oh, and mom, I'll just have a grilled cheese."

I left the kitchen and sat on the couch with my brother.

"Hey, John, guess who's coming over today!" I said, grinning at him.

"Who?" he asked looking surprised.

"Mike! He's gonna come over for a little while."

"Oh," he said, smiling and turning back to the tv. I wasn't surprised at his reaction. John wasn't around Mike a lot, so he didn't even know him that well.

Mike wasn't really my brother I guess. He was technically my half-brother. His mom and my dad used to be married, but then they got divorced and my dad met my mom.

Mike was a lot older than me. I'm sixteen and he's twenty-three. He lives in a town named Brumly, which was a few towns over. He lived there with his mom, and I didn't get to see him as much as I wanted to. Although sometimes people in my family talk about him, he's my brother and I love him.

I got up and went back into my room. I brushed my hair for a while and sang along to the radio. After a while, my mom called me out to eat lunch. When I was done eating I was bored again.

"Dad, did Mike say what time he'd be coming?"

My dad looked up from his work and frowned. "He didn't say when but he should be here soon," he stopped and took off his glasses to rub his eyes, "Don't feel too disappointed if the same thing happens again. . ." I looked away.

Last time Mike said he was gonna come over, I got excited because I hadn't seen him in almost a year. After over an hour of waiting, I found out he wasn't coming anymore. I got pretty upset, but I was also in a bad mood before that, so it just seemed worse.

I sighed and looked back at him, "Yeah. Yeah, I know. But, it probably won't happen again. . .right?" I asked hesitantly.

"I don't know, Elizabeth. But I guess you never can know with Mike," he said. I nodded and went back to my room.

I sat down on my window seat and watched the sun set over the trees and nearby houses. I would say that Tulsa had the best sunset, but I've only been to a few other places. I wasn't like some kids who have never been out of Tulsa, but I wasn't like some of those rich kids that took a new vacation each year.

After a while, the sun had set and I realized I'd been staring blankly out the window. I cleared my head and noticed a car coming towards our house. The headlights of the car shined on our garage as the car pulled up. I grinned widely and jumped up from my set and out the door.

"He's here," I said running to the front door and swinging it open. I stood on the porch with the door open as he got out of the car.

"Hey," he said smiling. He walked up the steps and I gave him a hug.

"How's it goin'?" he asked me and I let go.

I stepped back, taking a good look at him. My eyes widened a bit when I realized how skinny he got. He looked like he might be a little sick or something. Maybe I'm exaggerating things, I said to myself. I smiled back at him and replied.

"Good," I said as we entered the house. I stood back and my mom, dad, and John hugged Mike and greeted him.

"Hey buddy!" Mike said to John, giving him a high five. John started telling him all the sports he'd be joining soon. Now that John was a little older, he was able to sign up for any sports he wanted.

When John finished telling Mike about t-ball, my dad led Mike into the kitchen. I followed them and got a Pepsi from the fridge. I sat at the table with them. I wondered if my parents had noticed how skinny he looked. If they did they'd probably say something to him when I left the room.

Mike and my dad watched baseball on the small tv in the kitchen for a while. Dad asked him about the usual stuff, like where he was living and if he had a job. Mike would usually talk about some job he had, but I could never tell is he was telling the truth or not.

I left the kitchen for a little bit and sat in the living room with my brother. I hoped Mike really did have a job. I hoped he was healthy, and okay. I tried to keep my mind from wandering to the worse possibilities of why he looked unhealthy.

John, Mike, and my dad went outside to help John practice for t-ball before it got too dark out. I stayed inside and helped my mom with dinner. I was so lost in thought that I wasn't even sure what we were making.

"Hey mom?" I said quietly, looking over at her.

"Yeah?" she answered me, not looking up.

"Mike. . .he looks kinda sick," I said hesitantly, afraid she would tell me something I didn't want to hear.

She sighed and looked over at me, "I know. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it's not a cold." She hinted at what I didn't want to accept.

"Well, yeah. . .but it couldn't be that he's doing something bad, right?" I asked her hopefully.

"I honestly don't know, honey," she said to me frowning. I nodded back to her and finished helping her with dinner. I tried to forget about the whole thing. There was no way he was doing drugs or something. I knew Mike wasn't the best person, but there's no way he would do that. He always tried to act tougher, or worse, than he actually was.

Soon after dinner was ready, they all came back from the yard and ate. My parents asked him little things about his mom, his step-dad, and a few of his other relatives. Everything seemed fine except for some new, bizarre relationship his grandpa had. I almost cracked up. I swear, my family may seem normal, but I seriously have my doubts.

My mom always used to say Mike's grandpa (who was his mom's dad) had girlfriends no one really knew about. I do remember that Mike's grandma loved me before she died. Even though I wasn't her daughter's daughter, she still cared about me as if I were really related to her. I hate to say it, but I'm happy I'm not really related to anyone else in that family besides Mike.

I shook my head, laughing. Mike was laughing, telling the story. Even he had to admit that it was probably the weirdest thing ever. I smiled. I loved all of us just being together. I wished Mike came over more often.

Almost as quick as he came, it was time for him to go. We sat on the couch for a little bit and watched tv. He said he had to go and I frowned.

"We'll see you soon right?" I asked him hopefully.

"Um. . .yeah, I think so," he said, thinking.

"Kelli's graduation is coming up soon. Will we see you there?" my mom asked.

"Oh. Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. I'll be there," he said smiling. I smiled back at him, fully believing that just because he said it, it was true.

"That's good," my mom said nodding.

"We could even come and pick you up," my dad added. They started making arrangements for next week and soon we were all following him to the door. My parents said their goodbyes and I went over to hug him.

"You really are coming, right?" I asked looking up at him.

He looked down at me, confused. "Ofcourse." I smiled and nodded.

He walked down the porch steps and I watched him walk to the car. "Bye!" I yelled to him and he waved. I closed the door and began walking towards my room. I finally felt better about the whole thing, so I didn't want to hear what my parents might be saying about it in the kitchen.

I walked into my room, and got changed. I plopped down on my bed, sighing. Just as I got comfortable, I heard a knock on my door. I rolled my eyes and turned towards the door. "Come in."

My mom opened the door grinning widely. I stared at her, confused. Then I realized that she had the phone in her hand and my eyes widened.

"There's someone on the phone for you. I think he said his named was. . .Johnny?" she told me, teasing me. I blushed and jumped off of my bed quickly. She laughed as I grabbed the phone out of her hand.

"Hello?" I said, blushing harder if possible.

"Hey," I heard Johnny mutter quietly on the other line. I smiled, hearing his voice.

"What's up?" I said, cringing at how stupid I sounded.

"Uh. . .nothing, I just wanted to know if we were still meeting up tomorrow," he said.

"Oh. Yeah, you still can right?" I asked, hoping I'd be able to be with him tomorrow.

"Yeah," he said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Okay, well. . .maybe you could come over to my house and we can start working on the charts and stuff," I said.

"Yeah, sounds cool."

"Kay, see you tomorrow," I replied, still smiling like an idiot.

"Bye."

I went into the kitchen, hanging up the phone. My mom and dad were still in there and they looked up when I walked in. My mom grinned at me again and I rolled my eyes, trying not to smile.

"Can Johnny come over tomorrow to work on the project," I asked as nonchalantly as I could.

"Johnny? Who's Johnny?" My dad looked up, confused. Great. Now both my mom, and my dad could embarrass me.

"No one. He's just my partner for my Science project," I sighed, looking back at him.

"Sure," he said quietly, looking back at the tv.

"It's ok with me, what about you?" my mom said, tapping my dad on the shoulder.

"Oh, it's fine with me, I'll be here anyway," my dad looked up again, grinning at me just as I felt my face fall. Well. Isn't that just perfect!


End file.
